Celebrate Lionfish Awareness Festival
Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day and Festival
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is proud to announce the 10th annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day on Saturday, May 17. Lionfish are an invasive species that negatively impact native marine life and their habitat. Everyone is invited to celebrate LRAD at this year’s Lionfish Festival, which will be held May 17–18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT at HarborWalk Village in Destin.
This 2-day outdoor festival is free, open to the public and will include conservation and art booths, live music, an interactive kid’s zone and the world’s largest lionfish tournament, the Emerald Coast Open.
What is Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day?
To increase public awareness about the lionfish invasion and encourage removal efforts, the FWC signed a resolution creating Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day in February of 2015. Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day is a statewide day celebrated on the first Saturday after Mother’s Day each year.
Tournament Details
Are you interested in competing with the best lionfish hunters in the world in the Emerald Coast Open? The tournament will run May 16–18, and include categories for most lionfish, largest lionfish and smallest lionfish with nearly $100,000 worth of prizes up for grabs! For official tournament rules and registration instructions, visit EmeraldCoastOpen.com.
Lionfish Restaurant Week
Sample lionfish at one of Destin–Fort Walton Beach’s featured restaurants during the Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Restaurant Week. Local chefs will highlight lionfish in unique dishes in the week leading up to the event to help bring awareness to the lionfish invasion in the Gulf of America. The schedule and list of restaurants participating in restaurant week can be found at the Emerald Coast Open Restaurant Week webpage.
Lionfish Challenge
The 2025 Lionfish Challenge is approaching quickly. This summer-long tournament hosted by FWC is open to everyone and is completely free to enter. Participants in the Lionfish Challenge have removed over 1 million lionfish from Florida waters since the program began in 2014! Are you up for the Challenge? Visit FWCReefRangers.com to register for the Lionfish Challenge. The Challenge begins May 24 and runs through Sept. 14.
Questions?
Contact the FWC Division of Marine Fisheries Management at 850-487-0554.
Angela Small
Creative Producer
