Zenia Wreck vs Lionfish 01 Narration

The Zenia wreck is located 50 miles of Panama City, Florida. The former coast guard buoy tender was sunk as an artificial reef in 1975 and rests upright at around 190’. The wreck serves its purpose well, attacking a wide variety of reef fish and has become a spear fishing paradise in recent years. But also invasive species such as the infamous lionfish have over populated the Zenia, feeding voraciously on smaller fish, crustaceans and other marine life. The lionfish originated from the Indo_Pacific and Red Sea, but this highly adaptable fish has established a permanent breeding along the coast of Florida, throughout the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic Ocean in general. The exploding lionfish population has become a serious threat to the local fish population around Florida’s coast line. Today, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission encourages people to remove lionfish from Florida’s waters to help limit the negative impact to the ecosystem. The Wakulla Diving Center hosts annually its lionfish tournament with growing success and the Zenia wreck was chosen in 2016 to decimate its lionfish population respectively. Zenia Wreck vs Lionfish was filmed by Heiko Kiera aka Ojatro in 2016.