Rachel Bowman Leads Lionfish Invitationals at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

By Kelly Drinnen

Header image by Jesse Cancelmo

September 2024

Rachel Bowman, nicknamed the “lionfish huntress,” is passionate about both protecting Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary resources and making sure that people get to experience this special place in the Gulf of Mexico. Since she began volunteering as the Lionfish Invitational trip coordinator in 2016, thousands of lionfish have been removed from the sanctuary, providing data for numerous scientific projects, as well as saving millions of native reef fish from lionfish predation.

Lionfish Invitational

As invasive lionfish spread up and down the East Coast of the United States and throughout the Caribbean, staff at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary started planning for ways to address the inevitable problem of this invasive species reaching the Gulf of Mexico. While lionfish derbies had served to raise awareness of the invasive lionfish problem and remove large quantities of lionfish in other areas, this type of event was not practical for this particular sanctuary due to its remote location and the depth of the reefs.

In 2011, the first lionfish was spotted in the sanctuary, and by 2015, staff had developed a plan to invite spearfishing scuba divers out to the sanctuary to remove lionfish and collect valuable data on the invasion. This citizen science trip was dubbed the Lionfish Invitational. The unique collaboration between researchers and lionfish hunters where they spend several days on a liveaboard dive vessel 115 miles offshore, brought divers from all over the country and was a resounding success!

As divers spread the word, enthusiasm grew, and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary got requests for more trips. But coordinating 30 divers from all over the country for multiple trips each summer was a lot of work for the already resource-limited staff. Rachel Bowman stepped up to fill this role. Bowman is a seasoned scuba diver, expert lionfish hunter, and charismatic ocean conservationist. From 2017–2024, she has coordinated all of the Lionfish Invitational trips.

The Lionfish Huntress

Who is this Lionfish Huntress?

She’s a force to be reckoned with! Bowman learned to scuba dive just so she could hunt lionfish, and then bought her own boat to do it from. That boat is called Britney Spears (i.e.,a woman who spears lionfish), which is visualized in a custom decal on the side of the boat.

a scuba diver holds a pole spear and a large tube with a red and white striped fish with many spines inside — Bowman uses a pole spear to target individual lionfish on the reef and places them into a tube with a slotted funnel for safe transportation. Photo: Jesse Cancelmo

At only 5 feet and 2 inches tall, she’s a powerhouse lionfish hunter who has removed thousands of lionfish from reefs in Florida Keys and Flower Garden Banks national marine sanctuaries. Bowman has competed in, won, and organized numerous lionfish tournaments. She even makes a living as a commercial fisherwoman, selling invasive lionfish to Florida Keys restaurants and certain supermarkets.

Bowman is currently serving a 3-year term on the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council in the Upper Keys diving seat, acting as a liaison between the sanctuary and members of the diving community, as well as providing advice and recommendations to the sanctuary superintendent. She previously served on the council as the citizen at large Middle Keys alternate from 2018 to 2021.

Why does she spear lionfish?

Invasive lionfish are severely impacting native fish populations throughout their invasive range and reproduce at an alarming rate. We’ll never be able to remove them all, but we can control their spread. By removing large quantities of lionfish from our reefs, we allow the reefs and their fish populations periods of recovery. Lionfish will eventually return to these spaces where they were previously removed, but regular removals help the reefs tolerate the intrusion.

Making a Difference

Through Bowman’s dedicated support of the sanctuary’s lionfish removal program, millions of native reef fish have been saved from predation. In addition, the thousands of lionfish removed from the sanctuary have been dissected and otherwise evaluated to provide over 50 scientists with important samples and data. In addition several scientific peer-reviewed and academic papers have been published as a result of her work. Not to mention over 100 Lionfish Invitational participants who are now strong supporters of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

In addition to coordinating the trips, Bowman started her own nonprofit, Lionfish Invitational Inc., to support these missions. This included building a website to highlight the trips and provide online application forms to reduce paper waste. She has also raised money through partner organizations to subsidize the cost of these trips and keep them affordable for citizen science divers. Her most recent success in this vein is a new partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife to remove lionfish from artificial reefs near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

In November 2023, Bowman presented at the DEMA (Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) conference in New Orleans to report on the success of the Lionfish Invitational program during a special lionfish session, thus bolstering interest in the sanctuary and applications for future trips.

a woman stands in front of a boat with the words “Britney Spears” painted on the side — Rachel Bowman stands next to her spearfishing vessel, Britney Spears. Photo courtesy of Rachel Bowman.

a woman in a wetsuit sitting on the gunnel of a boat with a speargun resting beside her holds up two red and white striped fish with many spines by their mouths using gloved hands — Rachel Bowman typically uses a speargun to remove invasive lionfish from the reef. Photo courtesy of Rachel Bowman

As if that’s not enough, Bowman has also been assisting researchers from Texas A&M University at Galveston who are conducting a study to evaluate habitat use of native and invasive predators on the reefs of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. For this project, she has helped capture lionfish so that researchers can surgically implant acoustic tags in them to track their movements around the reef.

Volunteer of the Year

For the past nine years, Bowman has dedicated a tremendous amount of time and effort to Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary resource protection efforts. In recognition of this and her dedication to ocean conservation as a whole, she has been selected as the 2024 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Volunteer of The Year. Our lionfish trips simply would not happen without her dedication and passion.

Kelly Drinnen is the acting education coordinator at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
Rachel Plunkett is the content manager and senior writer/editor at NOAA’s Office of national Marine Sanctuaries