Wahoo's Lounge hosts Lionfish Tournament and Cookoff

The fight to rid the Belizean waters of the invasive lionfish continues and Wahoo's Lounge has teamed up with other stakeholders like Hol Chan Marine Reserve and the San Pedro Tour Guide Association to fight the mighty fish. Together, their efforts have encouraged dive shops and individuals to capture, cook and eat these fishes.

The tournament to capture the fish was held on Saturday December 16th with measuring done at 5PM at the Wahoo's Lounge. Prizes were given for three categories: the largest fish, smallest fish and the most fish caught. In first place was Island Divers for capturing 167 lionfish. For this they won an overnight stay at a private villa with private chef, Chef Mar available to cook up their catch; two round trip tickets to Belize City courtesy of Tropic Air; $400 courtesy of Ambergriscaye.com and a taxidermy lionfish trophy courtesy of Mr. Dimas Guerrero.

Capturing second place for the largest fish, measuring 37cm was White Sands Dive Shop. The team won a taxidermy lionfish trophy courtesy of Dimas Guerrero, $300 cash courtesy of Franky & Lovie's Lake of the Ozarks and dinner for two courtesy of Rojo Lounge.

Third place also went to White Sands Dive Shop, for capturing the smallest lionfish, which measured 9cm. For capturing the smallest lionfish, the team took home a snorkel and mask courtesy of Island Divers Belize, $100 cash and a t-shirt courtesy of Wahoo's Lounge.

With the tournament over, chefs from across the island were invited to pick up a batch of lionfish for the cook-off scheduled for the following day. Four chefs took the challenge to prepare the lionfish; Chino of Wahoo's Lounge, Waruguma, Crave Restaurant and Chef Mar.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun