Reefer Madness Dive Team- Help Us Save the Reefs of Florida and the Caribbean!

Hello my fellow Steemians!

I have several passions and projects in my life currently. One of my newest is creating the Reefer Madness Dive Team. We are a group of chefs, EMTs, and veterans that are undertaking a project to help control the invasive lionfish population in the waters of Florida and the Caribbean.

Wait a minute. What's up with lionfish? Here are some brief explanations from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission website:

"Lionfish are a predatory reef fish. They eat native fish, which can reduce native populations and have negative effects on the overall reef habitat and health as they can eliminate species that serve important ecological roles such as fish that keep algae in check on the reefs. Lionfish also compete for food with native predatory fish such as grouper and snapper."
(http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/nonnatives/marine-species/lionfish/)

(source: USGS: http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/SpeciesAnimatedMap.aspx?speciesID=963)

"Lionfish were first reported off Florida's Atlantic Coast near Dania Beach in 1985.
We do not know for sure how the first release into our waters occurred, but we do know the invasion began with only a handful of fish. We also know a release from ballast water was not likely the culprit as there is very little shipping from lionfish’s native range to our waters that occurs without the exchange of ballast water beforehand.
In the 2000s, the species began to be recorded off the Atlantic coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, while reports from Bermuda and Florida continued.
Since the mid-2000s, lionfish reports have increased rapidly. As of 2010, they have even begun to show up in areas where lionfish previously were not found such as along the northern Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola and Apalachicola.
Movement of lionfish likely followed currents up the Atlantic Coast, around to the Bahamas and then into the Gulf."
(source: http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/nonnatives/marine-species/lionfish

We need your help!

We have registered our team with the FWC Reef Ranger program (www.reefrangers.com), sponsored by the state of Florida. Each team adopts a reef off the Florida coast and pledges to hold at least "2 to 3 lionfish culling events per year."

This is where you come in Steemians! We need sponsors to hold our first event. Our team, Reefer Madness Dive Team, is brand new and still working on getting equipment, including a boat. We have a lot of great plans and ideas for this project.

Our Ideas:

1. Lionfish are a great tasting fish and considered delicacy in some parts of the world. With our food background, we plan on expanding marketing efforts to increase consumption. Most experts agree that the best way to control this species, is to eat them! Harvesting lionfish can yield about $2,000 in income per dive day, after selling them to wholesale seafood buyers.

2. While adopting existing reefs is great, I want to eventually create an artificial reef that we can place ourselves and harbor new marine environments. With the help of the Steemit community, I want to create a concrete reef in the styling of the Steemit logo or huge individual letters that say "Steemit." What do you think about that?

3. I also stated that we needed a boat. It needs to be at least a 16 foot center console dive boat. I have seen several used boats for a few grand that only needs a little TLC, which we are capable of doing ourselves. If the Steemit community can help us out on this, I will totally name it something Steem or Steemit related. Steemy McSteemface? Give me name ideas in the comments!

4. Dive trips in South Florida and the Caribbean, with special trips just for my fellow Steemians!

These are a few of our ideas and we really want to make this happen, so we can save our reefs!

Thanks so much,

Paulie