My grandfather was a fisherman, my dad... a fisherman, so
it's in the blood, you know.
I love doing it.
It's way better than working for someone.
You got no boss to watch over you, you know, tell you what to do.
You know I have a passion for it.
Whether I catch a fish or not I just love,
love the ocean.
From ever since I've known myself.
From when I was a little kid I used to build a little...
boat gun.
You know, my dad gave me a mask and stuff like that.
So I used to jump off in the shallows,
Shoot the little... shads,
and the little jacks and stuff... snapper.
Then I just take my little time in the reef.
Then from the reef to the high rock.
Get deeper and deeper, you know.
Over time I developed that technique for diving, you know?
Sometimes I get a good catch.
Sometimes three, four barracudas,
red snapper, lobster.
It's a long day of work but,
I can provide for my family.
Everybody kinda... trying to catch them lionfish nowadays.
You have some guys from the marine park tell us about it,
and how dangerous they are.
The lionfish will start to take over the whole bottom, you know.
You're not seeing much fish on the ground anymore.
When we go to sea the guys always carry scissors
so we just cut the spines off.
The lionfish juked me a few times already.
That pain lasts long and it moves fast.
As soon as it hits you,
You start to feel it in your whole body, you feel it in your heart, man.
But, I'm like a suicide diver.
You find a nice piece of reef and when you go you'll see a whole bunch of lionfish.
They're bad for the reef.
So we have to get rid of them.
So if we can make a little money other than staying here, well that's good.
You know what this is? This one's the notorious lionfish.
On the island here, since the public
has been educated how to utilize this fish,
alot of the fishermen here are catching them,
and we have started using lionfish a whole lot in our cuisine.
Got a big boy here.
Lionfish is a really nice fleshy great-flavored fish.
The only downside is there's some spines on it that have some venom,
so you have to be very careful, really.
But once you have dressed or cleaned the fish
you're ready to go. It's basically safe after that.
I think once we promote it more and we get it out there,
in the restaurants, we would be able to sustain it.
Jerk Lionfish Bruschetta,
and we're going to serve that with some fresh papaya chutney.
Lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper, some ginger, onion, garlic,
and of course some fresh papaya.
♪ You wake up this morning You'd better give thanks.
♪ You don't know if you're gonna live to see tomorrow.
♪ Life is much more precious than gold.
The lionfish, it's very tasty.
Cut up a little carrot, sweet pepper, honey and stuff like that.
A little piece of butter, some garlic, and a little piece of hot pepper.
You just put it in a little water,
put on the cover and make it a simmer,
and you're good to go. Probably a little bit of coconut powder
to give it that flavor, that creamy sauce.
You guys making me hungry
I always know that I'm gonna make a living out of the ocean, because
it's something that I have a passion for. I love it.
I get chopped up by barracuda, I get blackout a few times.
It's a long day of work but,
I'd still rather do it than working for some guys.
Yah mon, it's self reliance, eh?
It's just me and the Almighty, you know?