You could get paid to help get rid of an invasive species off the Southwest Florida coast

A Southwest Florida business wants to pay you to catch Lionfish. FWC is also getting behind this effort.

Lionfish are an invasive species not usually found in Lee, Charlotte or Collier Counties. Here’s what you need to do to cash in on the new program.

Roland Salatino and Aarav Chavda are divers. “We are two guys that have been divers forever, we love the environment and we saw this problem with the Lionfish,” they said.

These two are part of the war on the invasive Lionfish species.

“Their populations fell with a disease we saw a couple of years ago that knocked out a lot of them but we’re starting to see them come back and we’re fearful of what that might mean for the environment,” they said.

With Southwest Florida’s water close to our hearts, Salatino and Chavda go beyond FWC’s efforts to find these Lionfish and with a resourceful twist. So, they founded Leox Leather.

“Actually take the skin turn it into a leather and a high-quality find good that can be used in everything from Wallet swatch straps in a lot of the smaller things that people really appreciate,” they said.

They sell Lionfish to the local markets, and they pay divers like Dannielle Pierone and Jimmy Gadonminiski.

“People in their forties to 60s vacationing here been here for a while it’s a great opportunity,” said Pierone and Gadonminiski. “Make a couple bucks while doing it yeah make money or bring home dinner.”

Scuba shops in Collier and Lee Counties say more people have taken up diving during the pandemic so with millions of Lionfish out there, this may be a pathway.

“There’s really no perfect solution. There’s no silver bullet.”

But this is a start and provides hope that more divers and fishermen can help manage the Lionfish population.

Because Lionfish are dangerous and are found deep down in our waters, you need to be an advanced diver to take on this mission.