CORE FOUNDATION

What they do

A SERIOUS THREAT to CARIBBEAN CORAL REEFS is INVASIVE LIONFISH. THESE VENOMOUS FISH ARE PROLIFIC BREEDERS and HAVE NO PREDATORS IN THE CARIBBEAN,SO THEIR POPULATIONS is UNCHECKED. for FIFTEEN YEARS, CORE AS CONDUCTED EDUCATION and TRAINING of DIVERS for LIONFHISH REMOVAL USING A NON-PROJECTILE. THE HAWAIIAN SLING DEVICE and OUR ORGANIZATION ARE RESPONSIBLE for REMOVING THOUSANDS of THESE INVASIVE FISH EACH YEAR FROM BOTH V.I. TERRITORAL and V.I. NATIONAL PARK WATERS. HELD A VERY SUCCESSFUL LIONFISH DERBY WITH OVER 200 REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS ON THE ISLAND of ST. CROIX, VI. CORE HAS BEEN PERMITTED to MAINTAIN AN IN-WATER NURSERY to MAINTAIN GENOTYPES of LOCALLY THREATENED CORALS and to GROW THEM to A SUITABLE SIZE for NEARBY OUTPLANTING. CORE DIVERS CONDUCT FREQUENT NURSERY CLEANING and DATA COLLECTION, and ARE FINDING ADDITIONAL NURSERY SPACE.