All language subtitles for NOVA S49E15 Ocean Invaders 1080p WEBRip x264-BAE (1)_track3_[eng]

♪ ♪

DANNI WASHINGTON:
An invasion that
spans continents.

♪ ♪

Triggered by humans.

They didn't choose
to be released

in an entirely
different environment,

but they're here.

♪ ♪

WASHINGTON:
The lionfish.

Along the Atlantic coast,

they've gone
from population: zero

to top predator
in mere decades.

I'm talking about,
in some cases,

100 lionfish on one reef site

that may be
the size of your car.

We constantly
go back and forth

from being appalled
at what we see,

but being excited by our ability
to witness those things.

WASHINGTON:
What has made them
so successful?

TICO CHRISTIAAN:
Copy that, be advised,

we are heading up
for lionfish.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's it-- all right.

All right, keep it there, keep
it there, yeah, bring it up.

WASHINGTON:
And what, if anything,
can stop them?

FARRA FIGAROA:
We bring it to a restaurant

where they sell them,

where they sell the lionfish.

WASHINGTON:
What's the average depth

that you normally
put this down in?

Truly out of recreational
diving limits,

in deep water.

There we go.
Nice.

We're ready to go.

WASHINGTON:
"Ocean Invaders,"

right now, on "NOVA."

♪ ♪

WASHINGTON:
The Argentine black and white
tegu in Florida.

African hippos in Colombia.

South American cane toads
in Australia.

Species are being introduced

to new places
like never before.

The Asian giant
hornet is so much bigger

and faster and stronger.

WASHINGTON:
Some are harmless and actually
make our lives better,

while others become invasive,

causing harm
and spreading uncontrollably.

We short-circuit
the geographic barriers

between these species.

WASHINGTON:
But it's in the ocean
where an invasive species

has wreaked so much havoc,

it's considered
one of the most

successful of them all.

The lionfish.

And the ocean, well,
that's my territory.

I'm Danni Washington,

an ocean explorer
and science communicator.

I've always been drawn

to the mysteries
of the underwater world.

So when I learned
that an invasion

of epic proportions,
spanning continents,

was happening
below the surface,

I had to investigate.

What I really
want to know is,

why are lionfish a threat?

What makes them so invasive?

And what can be done about it?

The Gulf of Mexico
is one of the regions

that has been hit
hardest by the invasion.

So today,
I've come to participate

in a fish survey to get

a closer look at
these "Ocean Invaders."

♪ ♪

My mission is to
find lionfish

during this survey,

so I'm really looking
forward to that.

I know that they love
to hang around wrecks

or any type of
structure underwater,

so I'm curious to see
how many we'll find.

WASHINGTON:
I join coastal resource manager

Alex Fogg at the Big Dawg,

a U.S. Air Force
vessel sunk in 2021.

So where maybe
there's a staircase,

or maybe an open door
where there are some

nooks and crannies
for them to hang out,

that's where you want
to be looking for them.

Okay.
We'll help
if we can.

All right, cool.

And I think the universal
signal for lionfish,

I mean,
if I remember correctly,

it's this one right here?
Correct, yep.

FOGG:
You got it, yep, yep.

Pretty easy
one to pick out.
WASHINGTON: Great.

So if you can point 'em
out to me, let me know

when you see some, and
I'll make sure to tally it down.

WASHINGTON:
Okay, well, I think
we should get suited up.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

WASHINGTON:
The Big Dawg was not a casualty

of a hurricane or torpedo.

It was intentionally
sunk as a part

of an artificial reef program.

♪ ♪

As it comes into view,

I'm blown away
by its massive size.

♪ ♪

In regions with featureless sea
floors, like the Gulf,

structures are sunk
as artificial reefs

to promote marine life.

Like this huge
roughtail stingray,

one of the first
creatures we encounter.

♪ ♪

We see several species that
people depend on for food,

including grouper
and red snapper.

So reefs like this don't
only support biodiversity,

they support us.

While artificial reefs here
are havens for native fish,

they've also become
buffet grounds

for the invasive lionfish.

♪ ♪

To start our survey,
we head into the ghostly wreck.

It really doesn't take long
to spot my first lionfish.

Three of them, actually.

At a distance,
their striped bodies

blend in with
the mangled metal.

But up close,
they are striking,

hypnotic, and unlike
any other fish on the reef.

♪ ♪

As I continue the dive,
I tally up more

and more invasive lionfish.

I'm careful to
keep my distance.

They're venomous,
and capable of delivering

a potent sting
with their spines,

so I'm extra-wary
when checking

different compartments
and swim-throughs.

Turns out they're not
at all hard to find here--

which is exactly the problem.

There are dozens
of lionfish down here.

♪ ♪

FOGG:
In some cases, more
than 100 lionfish

on one reef site that
may be the size of your car.

It's unsustainable for
a lot of the species that are

on those reefs or
were on those reefs

prior to lionfish showing up.

(breathing heavily)

Well, that was cold.

(laughs)
FOGG:
Yeah, a little bit!

It's a little chilly.

Good vis, though!

Yeah, great
visibility.

All right, well,
that was a great dive.

Yeah, it was killer.
Yeah...

We absolutely had
lionfish down there.

Yes, we did.

We didn't have lionfish

ten, 15 years ago.

So just adding
lionfish to the system

totally changes things.

They may be
preying on fish,

like red snapper and grouper,
that we really depend on.

WASHINGTON:
Scientists say that
on some reefs,

lionfish are killing off
up to 80% of young fish.

And in some Atlantic waters,
they make up nearly

40% of the total
predator biomass.

Not long ago, they made up
zero percent.

This leads us
to the question,

how did lionfish end
up so successful here,

where they don't belong?

And where did
they come from?

LUKE TORNABENE:
Lionfish occur throughout
the Indo-Pacific oceans,

basically from the Red Sea
and Indian Ocean

throughout the Central Pacific,

all the way out
to French Polynesia.

They have a number of
predators in their native range.

So no one, no one looks
at, as lionfish as a nuisance.

They look at them as this
beautiful ornamental species

that everyone wants
to have in their fish tank.

WASHINGTON:
The lionfish's strange beauty

makes them popular in home
aquariums around the world,

and most scientists believe

that is what led
to the Atlantic invasion.

Here, we're talking
about something that

happened just like that.

WASHINGTON:
The theory is, in the 1980s,

lionfish living
in home aquariums

were released off
the coast of Florida.

Somebody took this species
that had never, you know,

been found naturally
in the Atlantic Ocean

and dumped it in,
and it just took off.

WASHINGTON:
Over the past few decades,

they've spread up and down the
Atlantic coast and Caribbean,

from North America
all the way down to Brazil.

And there are records of
lionfish in the Mediterranean,

introduced separately
via the Suez Canal.

SHARLENE SANTANA:
Our ability to move species

from one place to another

is, uh, over very large
distances, is much greater

than what many of those
species would be able

to accomplish
by their own means.

FRANK MAZZOTTI:
We short-circuit
the geographic barriers

between these species,

through things like
the pet trade,

and so things
that would have kept

these species apart, you know,
essentially forever,

for millennia, we've done away
with that barrier.

CAROLE BALDWIN:
Other, you know, aquarium
species have been

released into
the open ocean, and they

don't, you know, do well--
you might have a small

local population, or they
may just, you know,

die out completely,
but you take a,

a fish like a lionfish, that
just has all the characteristics

that make it a hardy survivor,

and, you know,
it can wreak havoc.

WASHINGTON:
Humans manage to move
plenty of animals

to opposite ends of the Earth.

So, what sets lionfish apart?

What allows them to proliferate

so successfully
in their new territories?

As a fish biologist,
someone who loves

studying these species,
we're often drawn towards

the evolutionary novelties
or the oddities--

the weirdos
in the fish world.

And lionfish are
definitely one of them.

Most fish don't have

frilly moving appendages
on the outside of their body.

Most fish look like
a torpedo, essentially,

with some short fins
on the top and the bottom.

The lionfish seems to have
a suite of characteristics

that make it a particularly
great invasive species,

or terrible invasive species,
depending on your perspective.

Their appetite
is seemingly endless,

and they digest food
very quickly, too.

WASHINGTON:
A lionfish can eat

90% of its body
weight in a day.

In fact, a lionfish's stomach

can expand up
to 30 times in size.

TORNABENE:
They will not chase down

a food item across
the reef and eat it.

That's just not how they work.

They're, they're smarter than
that.

And in some ways,
they're lazier than that.

So, their approach
is definitely a slow approach

to targeting their prey,
getting them in

an opportunistic position
where they can ambush it,

and developing an easy,
an easy meal.

WASHINGTON:
Lionfish eat over
100 different species,

one of the reasons they are
such destructive invaders.

But that's not all.

They're also very good
at reproducing.

While most native fish
only reproduce

for a few months,
female lionfish

can produce millions of eggs
over the entire year.

This relentless
multiplication

leads their populations
to skyrocket.

They release the eggs
into the water column,

thousands of them at a time,

and they're fertilized
and they drift.

And so that makes it
really hard to contain,

you know, an invasive species
to any one area.

WASHINGTON:
And crucially,
in their original habitat,

lionfish have predators.

In the Atlantic,
there aren't really

any animals that
see them as food yet.

Organisms are highly adapted
to their environments

and to the species
that they interact with

because of this process
of natural selection.

Within an ecosystem,
you have species that

have been interacting for

millions of years,
probably, right?

And it's a network of very
intricate interactions.

Pattern recognition between
predator and prey,

and, and it's sort of this
evolutionary arms race.

And in the lionfish's native
range,

we can imagine that

the predators there have
had much longer time

to recognize this
otherwise unique pattern,

and recognize that
that is actually a prey item.

Whereas in their
introduced range,

they've only been
here for 30 years.

So most of the species
here have no idea

what this pattern is at all.

WASHINGTON:
Without predators
to keep them in check,

invasive lionfish
have an advantage

over native species that
have evolved together.

But humans have moved species
around the globe for millennia.

So how bad can an invasive
species really be?

On the other side
of North America,

another animal is just
starting its invasion.

One that scientists think
could be catastrophic.

♪ ♪

TED MCFALL:
It was a, it was a morning
almost exactly like today.

And I saw, in front
of one of the hives,

a black area of, of what looked

to be maybe a bunch
of dead bees.

And, and that's when
I opened up the hive.

And there was nothing,
nothing less, left to save.

All of the bees
had been beheaded.

WASHINGTON:
Beekeepers Ted and Dorothy
McFall were the first

to be hit by this invasion.

In all my decades
of beekeeping,

I've never seen
anything like it.

DOROTHY MCFALL:
So a few weeks later,

I was at a winter market

and a couple said,
"I don't want to alarm you,"

but they found some, some--
and she said the name,

and I had no idea

what she just told me.

And then I asked her again,
"What is that called?"

And she said,
"Asian giant hornet."

TELISSA WILSON:
Vespa mandarinia.

The Asian giant hornet, yeah.
MAN: That's the Asian giant
hornet, okay.

That's what it's commonly
called here.

WASHINGTON:
A.K.A. the yak killer,

the murder hornet,
and officially named

the northern giant hornet.

So the first nest
was actually found

in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Come to now, we have found
four nests in Washington state.

Nobody really knows how
the first introduction happened.

It's plausible that
it came in on shipments,

or cargo containers.

TED MCCALL:
The goal right now
is to try to stop

this Asian giant
hornet problem from continuing,

because it only
takes somewhere between

five and two dozen
Asian giant hornets

to come in and
slaughter thousands.

And they do it
in a matter of hours.

60,000 versus five.

WILSON:
It kills people every year.

I think about 50 people in
Asia die annually from stings.

It delivers more venom
than any other hornet.

It's a cytolic venom.

It basically, like,

breaks open your cells
and degrades your tissue.

I know it sounds crazy,

but the Asian giant hornet,
they can sting multiple times.

And if you pick up a couple
dozen stings,

you're either gonna be,
wind up in the hospital

or in the cemetery.

WASHINGTON:
But the danger
they pose to humans

is nothing compared
to what they do to honeybees.

Giant hornet scouts
roam, looking for beehives,

so they can steal
nutrient-rich baby bees

and feed them
to their own young.

When a scout finds a hive,
it injects a pheromone

onto it to signal
this colony is a target.

This is like a pin
marked on a GPS.

(buzzing)

When the rest
of the hornets arrive,

there's little
hope for the bees.

They call it
the slaughter phase,

'cause that's exactly
what they're doing.

They literally will park
up on the honeybee nest

and just tear
the workers apart.

WASHINGTON:
Back in the hornet's
native range in Asia,

the most common
honeybee has evolved

a very effective defense--

kill the scout.

When the hornet scout shows up,

the Asian bees ball around
it and beat their wings.

This not only allows
them to pierce

the hornet's armor,

but also suffocate
it to death.

This is possible because
Asian honeybees evolved

alongside the giant hornet.

The honeybee colonies
that were able

to defend themselves
triumphed.

Meanwhile, the honeybees
far away in North America

did not participate in this
evolutionary arms race.

WILSON:
Honeybees here

don't have
a defense mechanism.

They haven't co-evolved with
the Asian giant hornet,

and so that's a really scary
thought when you think about

all of the pollination
that our honeybees do.

WASHINGTON:
And there's the big problem.

Honeybees are
the most productive

pollinator in the U.S.

A third of all food
produced in the country

depends on these bees.

So, if the honeybees
have a major problem,

the food supply
has a major problem.

TED MCCALL:
Food prices will go up.

Berries, vegetables,
nuts, you know,

all these things are
dependent on honeybees.

Coffee-- you know, without,
without the honeybees,

we're gonna be eating
a lot of potatoes,

eating a lot of corn, and...

I guess we'll
always have corn syrup.

WASHINGTON:
At the Washington State
Department of Agriculture,

the recently discovered giant
hornet nests are being studied.

Scientists like Telissa Wilson
are working against the clock

to understand
the hornet's presence

and future in North America.

WILSON:
So here is the part,

just part of the nest
number four

that we found last year.

And just for comparison,
here's another nest I found

outside of my lab
in the parking lot,

of another hymenoptera.

It's pretty crazy.
(chuckles)

I mean, they're, they're
unmistakable when you see 'em.

They're the largest hornet.

They have two big black eyes

with three little eyes
in the middle.

Five total eyes.

Which is just too much.
(laughs)

We do stand a chance
of eradicating it,

and we're throwing
a lot of people at it

and a lot of time and resources,

and we're collaborating with
a lot of citizen scientists.

MAZZOTTI:
Early detection
and rapid response.

Almost all of the examples,
when we have

successfully dealt
with an invasive species,

has been something that
was detected early,

responded to rapidly,

with brute force--
just go in and get it out.

WASHINGTON:
Over the spring,

Ted and Dorothy set traps
with their local bee club

in hopes of catching any
emerging hornet queens

before they can reproduce.

RUTHIE DANIELSON:
The first year, we had about

18 to 20
Asian giant hornets

caught in traps?

Last year, we had 14,
wasn't it?

DOROTHY MCCALL:
Oh, yes, 14, I think.
DANIELSON: 14? Yeah, yeah.

So every time you catch

an Asian giant hornet
in a trap,

what that says is, there's
a nest in the area.

And so then the, the scientists,
the entomologists,

will saturate the area

in a grid pattern
with live traps

that they will check daily.

♪ ♪

TED MCCALL:
None of these hornets

or other vespas
are even close to the size

of the Asian giant hornet.

The Asian giant hornet
is so much bigger

and faster and stronger.

It's pretty incredible.

TED MCCALL:
But hopefully, if we
can stop it,

then we're not gonna have
to deal with it, but...

We can stop it,
of course we can.
Yeah.

We're, we're trying
like heck, aren't we?

Of course we can.
(both laugh)

WILSON:
Once an invasive species
is endemic or established,

the amount of money
and resources you would have

to use to eradicate it are just
too much.

Once it gets to a certain point,
all hope is lost.

WASHINGTON:
It is undeniable that invasive
giant hornets are a threat.

We still don't know if they can
be eradicated in North America,

but the clock is ticking,

driving scientists and locals
to take action,

because we not only love,

but depend on
the native honeybee.

The honeybee is non-native.

(tape player stops)
WASHINGTON:
Wait, what?

(tape player starts)
Well, in some of these species,

that gets to another
end of a definition.

Some non-native species
become naturalized,

and that is, that's kind
of the opposite of invasive,

and that is, they become
part of the ecosystem

that they've been introduced
to and fit into the ecosystem.

And so there are naturalized
non-native species,

as well as invasive
non-native species.

WASHINGTON:
Okay, so let's get this
straight.

Non-native species
are the ones that

have moved into new ecosystems.

And like Frank says,
such species can become

either naturalized
as a part of the ecosystem,

or invasive and
disrupt the ecosystem.

But species have been
moving around the world

for millions of years.

So does that mean every
plant and animal

could have been
considered non-native

and potentially invasive at
some point in Earth's history?

Could North America's
beloved honeybees have been,

for a time, invasive,

and out-competing
native pollinators?

What else?

Cats.

(tape player stops)
WASHINGTON:
You're killing me, Frank.

(tape player resumes)
Cats eat birds,

eat small mammals,
eat reptiles,

and, and are responsible for

(wild cat growling)
hundreds of millions,
if not billions,

of birds being eaten every year.

Cats are the, one of the
most invasive species.

Cats get a pass because
people do like them.

(cat meows)
They shouldn't get a pass.

Gonna anger all the cat people.
(laughing)

It's okay, I'm a dog person,
I own it.

(laughs)

WASHINGTON:
So, invasive giant hornets

are a problem because
they could potentially

wipe out honeybees and impact
America's food supply.

Outdoor cats are a problem

because they kill
billions of birds.

But what about lionfish?

In some parts of the Atlantic,

the populations of dozens
of fish species have plummeted.

And many scientists believe
lionfish are to blame.

Those fish are crucial
to the survival of corals.

For instance,
some fish help control

algae growth on coral reefs.

If lionfish overconsume
algae-eaters,

reefs could suffocate.

Countless coastal communities

in the Western Atlantic
depend on these coral reefs

for everything
from fishing to tourism.

But lionfish populations
can be managed-- sort of.

Currently, the most
effective way

to do this is through
spearfishing.

(boat motor revving)

Tim Shivers and John Kidd
compete in lionfish derbies.

These competitions
can award big prizes

for catching the most lionfish

and can temporarily
decrease populations.

SHIVERS:
So I've lived here
pretty much all my life.

And we really didn't
start seeing many lionfish

in this area until
about '08, '09,

somewhere
around in that time.

SHIVERS:
Shortly thereafter,
there was, like, a large

boom of them that just seemed

to keep coming in and coming in,
and...

The lionfish
don't tend to run off,

as you imagine they would, when
being shot with a, a spear.

They don't even see
us as a predator

when we go down there.

They, there's no recognition
that we're even there.

They just tend to keep
on doing what they do.

FOGG:
They're not very active hunters.

So, when you drop down
a bait to fish for

your snapper and grouper,
lionfish are generally

not going to eat that hook.

So, it really comes down
to divers going out

and harvesting lionfish
with a spear.

KIDD:
You don't spear lionfish

like you would spear
any other fish.

We take down something
called a zookeeper,

which is just
basically a PVC tube

with a, a funnel on,
in the top of it.

And we also use
this much shorter

Hawaiian sling-style spear

with a paralyzer tip

at the end, with three barbs.

You can basically use

the structure
to push against it

and push the elastic band back,

and hold it here,

point, and release
to shoot the spear.

WASHINGTON:
But spearfishing doesn't
come without its risks.

As I learned on my
dive with lionfish,

you have to be very
careful around them.

With 18 loaded venomous spines,

they have a very dangerous side.

The venom is
a defense mechanism.

One slip of the hand could
lead to an intolerable pain,

with symptoms
remaining for weeks.

And it's probably,
maybe like a jellyfish

times 5,000--
I mean, it's, it's very painful.

Have you ever been
hit by a stingray?

I got hit by a
stingray in my foot,

and that was, I thought,
the most painful experience

of my life until
I got hit by a lionfish.

It was six hours of
the most excruciating pain

I have ever experienced.

SHIVERS:
One of them actually
went under my ring,

and by the time we could
get me back in to land,

it was two-and-a-half
hours later,

and you couldn't
even see my ring.

It was swollen up so bad,
I had to be taken in

to the hospital
and they had to cut it off.

And it took about two weeks

for it to really get
back to the normal size.

WASHINGTON:
Despite the danger,
spearfishing could make

managing lionfish
populations possible,

down to about 130 feet.

But scientists have made
a troubling discovery.

Lionfish seem to be
venturing beyond

the diving range
for spearfishing--

to deeper, darker depths.

What damage could they
be doing down there,

out of human sight?

♪ ♪

BALDWIN:
Over the past ten years,
we have been

exploring the deep-reef areas

from about 200 feet
down to 1,000 feet.

Initially, when we
started the sub diving,

we didn't know half
of what we were seeing,

partly because none
of these things had ever

been seen alive,

but more importantly,
most of them

had never been discovered
before.

WASHINGTON:
Marine biologists
Carole Baldwin

and Luke Tornabene have
discovered over 30 new

deep-reef species during
their decade of research

off the Caribbean island
of Curaçao.

But then, they saw something

they never expected.

We saw the first record of,
of lionfish consuming

a species that we didn't
even have a name for yet.

So that kind of switched the,

the lights on
in our brains to say,

"We gotta start catching
these things."

WASHINGTON:
But why lionfish would be
hanging out deep is a mystery.

There's less food down there,
it's barren, and cold,

so it's a bit of a paradox,
considering lionfish's

relentless appetite
and its many adaptations

for complex reef ecosystems.

TORNABENE:
The number-one priority
right now is understanding

the extinction risk
that lionfish pose

to deep-reef native fishes.

And to do that,
our major goal is

to collect as many lionfish
from deep reefs as possible.

WASHINGTON:
Each dive is six to eight
hours long.

They'll descend down
to 1,000 feet,

searching for lionfish
along the way.

The goal is to collect
deep-dwelling lionfish

to later analyze their
gut contents.

But it won't be easy.

No one has ever
done this before.

TORNABENE:
Lionfish didn't
choose to be captured

by people selling them
for the aquarium trade,

and they didn't
choose to be released

in an entirely
different environment,

but they're here.

So it's not,
not so much that we have

a personal vendetta
against these species,

but lionfish are a threat.

And we're just
beginning to understand

how big of a threat that is,
especially to these

really sensitive
deep-reef environments.

Yeah, so right now,
we're descending

to about 160 feet,

making our way down
to around 600 feet.

So this is all skeleton
of old, old ancient reefs

that are now home
to a community of fishes

that live only in this
narrow slice of the ocean.

(man speaking on radio)

Copy that, be advised,

we are heading to, uh,

around 600?

To around 600, 500,
600 feet for lionfish.

TORNABENE:
Let's shoot
some lionfish.

(machine whirring)

TORNABENE (grunts):
I don't know where the lionfish
went,

but he's around here somewhere.
MAN: Yeah, and we'll be here to
find him.

TORNABENE:
There he is, right there,
right there.

CHRISTIAAN: Where?
TORNABENE: Down, straight down.

CHRISTIAAN:
All right.

TORNABENE:
All right, so we've got

a lionfish here at 513 feet,

and he's corralling some...

One of the more
common species down here,

a rough-tongued bass.

Spearing a lionfish with
a six-and-a-half-ton

submersible, pulling
it off the spear,

putting it into a basket,
reloading the spear,

and firing again to shoot
multiple lionfish

on a dive was something that

we were unsure if we were
gonna be able to do.

TORNABENE:
Right, right, right,
right, right, right.

No, you're too high, you're too
high, you're too high.

Right, we're right there,
though.

He's, he's not
moving.

To your right.

Now.
(machine whirrs)

(whirring)

Okay, I will now
apply the anesthetic.

WASHINGTON:
The anesthetic is used
to numb and knock out the fish,

preventing them from
wriggling their way to escape.

They are tough,

so it sometimes
takes a few tries.

TORNABENE:
Oh, there he goes.

(machine whirring)
I forgot how hard this was.

If you're spearing
when you're on scuba,

and you, your, your spear
gets stuck in the reef,

you just grab it and pull
it out, or if you miss

a lionfish, you can reload
in a second and fire again.

And once you've got it
on the end of your spear,

you just literally
push it into a bucket.

Every step of that process,

from finding the lionfish,
to approaching it,

to spearing it,
to getting it off the reef

and getting it to the surface,

is exponentially harder
with a submarine.

BRUCE BRANDT:
Oh... There you go, right.

That's the next one.

What the (bleep).
TORNABENE:
(bleep) hell.

Nice shot-- straight back now,
straight out.

CHRISTIAAN:
Awesome shot.

TORNABENE:
Okay, great shot.

Oh-- he's okay, we're going
to have to do it again.

I'm going to get
ready to reload.

WASHINGTON:
The whole process is a precise
unchoreographed waltz

between piloting the sub
and operating its robotic arms.

(machine whirring)

♪ ♪

TORNABENE:
There he goes.

Oh, it bounced off.

WASHINGTON:
Adding to the extreme challenge,

the spear gun mechanism
is starting to act up,

which could compromise
the whole dive,

leaving the team with
only one more day

to get the samples they need

to figure out what these
lionfish are doing down there.

The spear gun isn't cocking
very well right now.

Bent prongs are okay,
we can fix that.

But if we can't reload it,

then we're kind of screwed.

MAN: Those barbs are...
MAN: Too good.

TORNABENE:
Yeah.
MAN: Yeah, pretty good.

TORNABENE:
Okay.

Good, okay.

(machine whirring)

CHRISTIAAN:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
it-- all right.

All right, keep it there,
keep it there.

Yeah, bring it up, bring him up,
bring him up-- yeah.

TORNABENE:
Well, get out, get out in open
water-- oh...

(machine whirring)

CHRISTIAAN:
All right, oh, oh, oh...

TORNABENE:
Oh, good, good, good, good,
good, good, good.

Good, head first--
swish.

CHRISTIAAN:
Yeah, I'm going, I'm going,
I'm going.

TORNABENE:
Whoo!
(laughs)

CHRISTIAAN:
Nice job!

MATT GIRARD:
That's one.
(all laughing)

It's okay, we got one.

Whew!
(laughs)

Hey, if this was easy,
everybody with a submarine

would be doing it, right?

CHRISTIAAN:
Yeah, that's true.

Wow, all right!

I hope his stomach is full

of important
information, 'cause...

CHRISTIAAN:
What depth was that?

Uh, what did we start with?

You wrote it down, right?

GIRARD:
We started with 564.

CHRISTIAAN:
Oh, 564, okay.

WASHINGTON:
After hours in the submersible,

Luke and his team
collected only one lionfish

due to the malfunctioning spear.

If they can't fix the spear
for the final dive tomorrow,

they won't have enough samples
to effectively analyze

deep-water invasive lionfish.

Rallying hard against the clock,

that night, they work on
modifying

the entire
spear mechanism before morning.

♪ ♪

CHRISTIAAN:
Port side is 2,000.

Starboard side same, 2,000.

And current depth is 475.

All starboards functioning.

Closer.

TORNABENE:
Left, up.

Up, up, up, up-- there.

(machine whirrs)
Nice.

WASHINGTON:
The modifications
to the spear gun pay off.

The sub becomes like
the lionfish itself,

and slowly creeps up
on its prey.

When the moment is right,
it pounces.

This time, the team
is able to reload

the spear easily

and continue the hunt.

MAZZOTTI:
As wildlife biologists,

I can tell you that we

did not become wildlife
biologists to kill wildlife,

but we realize the importance

of doing that because
of the other impacts

that these species
are going to have.

It's not something

that we enjoy, but it is
something, as biologists,

we simply realize
the necessity of doing.

TORNABENE:
What's the count, Sarah, seven?

SARAH YERRACE:
I believe it's seven.
All right.

I'll call that a
victory for a dive.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

TORNABENE:
Behaviorally, you know, when we
find them in the shallows,

they're doing
a really great job

at camouflaging themselves
and ambushing prey.

Whereas when we look at them
in the deep reefs,

they're out in
the middle of nowhere,

just wandering out
the open plains, hunting.

So, we already see
some behavioral differences

between shallow
and deepwater lionfish.

So hopefully we'll see some
diet differences, as well.

WASHINGTON:
Luke will return to his lab

to analyze the guts
of these lionfish.

He's now seen
firsthand how lionfish

have infiltrated
deep-sea ecosystems.

TORNABENE:
Managing lionfish below

scuba diving depth
is gonna be a challenge.

It's a challenge that
welcomes innovation.

So far, lionfish
have been shown

to not respond
very well to many

of the traps that are used
to catch other fishes.

So, how do we remove
deep-reef lionfish?

♪ ♪

WASHINGTON:
Back in Florida,
I join some researchers

who are taking on
this challenge.

They're testing
a new lionfish trap,

the Gittings trap.

It could be the next frontier
in managing deep-sea lionfish.

♪ ♪

So this is a trap,
the Gittings trap.

Gittings trap.

Let's get some of
this gear out first.

Make sure everything
is ready to go before

we get on the boat.

There we go.
It's a lot easier to fix
something in the parking lot,

then fix it on a
moving vessel.
Exactly.

We're gonna
open it up.
There it is.

Wow.
Awesome, great.

So is this
the future?

Is this what
deepwater, you know,

collection of these
lionfish looks like?

So that's exactly
the research that

we're trying to find
out right now.

We are currently in
the beginning of those

research processes
in the Florida Keys

to try to contain this invasive
species in deeper depths.

WASHINGTON:
What's the average depth that
you normally put this down at?

BRYANT:
So the goal to put,

for these traps,
is gonna be

200 to 300
feet of water.

So this is truly
deep water.

Truly out
of recreational

diving limits,
and deep water.

WASHINGTON:
I help Alexa Bryant
and Madalyn Mussey,

A.K.A. Moose, gear up
the boat to test some traps.

The ultimate goal
of their research

is to make a trap that
fishers can consistently use.

(chuckling)

Sweet-- that was
actually great.

Then you're just gonna
lay that on top of here.

WASHINGTON: So it's
gonna lay on here?
MUSSEY: Yep.

Legs out, there we go.

Perfect.
And just like that.

That was all it took!
That was it.

(laughing)

WASHINGTON:
In the final step
before deployment,

Lex attaches a sound
recorder to the trap.

Why?

Apparently, lionfish make
sounds.

Lex and Moose are
experimenting with this device

to get an understanding
of their presence at depths

too deep for cameras.

WASHINGTON:
And how sensitive
is the recorder?

They have to be
pretty close

to be able to
record the sound,

which is okay, because
what we realistically want

to have is them near
the trap or on the trap.

So we'll be able to know
if they're on the trap

because they can't
record super-far away.

Can you mimic a
lionfish sound?

Oh, man--
Moose probably can.

(laughing)
How do they do?

I don't know, I'm trying
to think of the

best way to imitate it--
like I said,

it's like a purring,
grunting, almost...
Yeah.

It's like...
Purring, grunting?

It's like a cat.
(hooting)

I don't know how to say,
it's, like,

but it's more
purring than that.

(tape player stops)
WASHINGTON: A lionfish
actually sounds like this.

(lionfish making pulsing sound)

(tape player resumes)
All we gotta
do is just lift it

into the water
and let it drop...

BRYANT:
All right, Moose,
you ready to go?

Yep!
Sweet,
you guys got it.

MUSSEY: Just lift it.
BRYANT:
Drop it over the side.

WASHINGTON:
There we go, in the water.

MUSSEY:
In the water, there it goes.

BRYANT:
Awesome, that's it.

Let this out,
let this out.

I just felt
it hit the bottom.

Great.
WASHINGTON:
There we go.

WASHINGTON:
The trap is like
a hula hoop with hinges

that allow it to open and close.

Made with materials
that can be found

at the local hardware store,

its simple engineering
is impressive.

BRYANT:
And I'm gonna let that over.

Throw that bullet, buoy in,
toss it in.

Bye-bye.

Nice, there we go.

Nice.
We're ready to go.

WASHINGTON:
As I witnessed in
the Gulf of Mexico,

lionfish cannot
resist structure,

so while other fish
come and go, they stay.

It becomes a trap only when
it's pulled up to the surface.

The net base closes around
the congregated lionfish,

taking them with it.

So far, they've caught as
many as 20 lionfish in a trap,

but the overall
effectiveness of these traps

remains to be seen.

Understanding the fish's
deepwater behavior

will help researchers
continue to tweak the design

or come up with
new ideas altogether.

At the University of Washington,
Luke Tornabene continues

his investigation of Curaçao
deepwater lionfish.

DNA analysis of their
gut contents might give Luke

and lab assistant Megan Ewing
a clearer understanding

of these deep-roaming invaders.

All right.

Here are the beauties.

(sniffs)

First up is...

Let's do this guy first.

Oh, that's a,
that's a chunky belly.

That's a chunky belly.

That's a chunky belly--
all right.

WASHINGTON:
Megan cuts open a lionfish
stomach to scoop out

the gut contents and puts
them into a petri dish.

TORNABENE:
Okay, so this is a fish.

Can't tell what
type of fish it is,

but you can still
see the backbone.

So this might be one fish.

This could be ten fish,
could be four fish.

Um, we'll know once we get
the DNA sequence data back.

This is all gonna get ground
up into a mortar and pestle

and be put into
a tube to be extracted.

It's like lionfish
guacamole.
Mm-hmm.

While you're doing that,
I'm gonna rinse out the stuff.

(chuckling):
Lionfish guacamole?

I'm just registering
now what you said.

(laughing)

WASHINGTON:
Over years of research,

Luke has contributed to a
large database of fish DNA.

He can cross-reference
the species he finds

in the lionfish's
stomach with the depth

of where that fish lives.

This means he can figure out
not only what lionfish

are eating, but where
they're eating it.

After a week, Luke gets
his first batch of data

and takes the first look
at what's inside the guts

of a deep-reef lionfish
caught at 574 feet.

There were two species
inside of its guts

that jumped out at me.

The first one was this
species of soldierfish,

which occurs at
around 500 or 600 feet.

So that's not a surprise.

So that tells me that
the lionfish down deep

are eating species
that live down deep.

Now, the cool thing that
we found, though, was that

one of the species inside
of the lionfish's gut

was this species
of damselfish.

These damselfish are
probably the most common

fish you'll see snorkeling,
uh, on a coral reef.

So to find them inside
of the stomach of a fish

at 574 feet is,
uh, pretty surprising.

So right off the bat,
we know that this deepwater

lionfish is eating both
shallow-water prey

and deepwater prey.

WASHINGTON:
Lionfish digest their
food extremely fast.

So Luke's eye-opening
discovery means that

this deep-reef lionfish
came up to the shallows

to feed and then
traveled back down

within a matter of hours.

TORNABENE:
In my eyes, it's actually
a better thing that

the lionfish are coming up,
because it gives them

a chance to get removed by

recreational fishermen
or commercial fishermen.

If we start sequencing
the guts of all of these

dozens and dozens
of deepwater lionfish,

and every one
of them has something

shallow in its stomach,
that's good news.

WASHINGTON:
This is just the
beginning of the research,

and if this data
trend continues,

it unlocks many
more questions.

Like, why don't the lionfish
just stay in shallow water?

Why go down deep at all
if there is less food there?

No matter what,
invasive lionfish have

the potential to impact
hundreds of thousands of people

who make a living through
fisheries in the Caribbean.

But some countries,
like Curaçao,

might be flipping
the script on the invader.

Without traps, boats,
or even scuba gear,

two local free divers start

their evening along
the rocky coast.

♪ ♪

Joline ten Haken
and Farra Figaroa

have taken up hunting
lionfish for side income.

I know Joline from
my swimming club.

And, yeah, we met there,

and one time she asked me,

"Oh, do you want to go
hunt lionfish with me a day?"

I was, like,
"Okay, we can try one day."

And then I started doing it.

Almost every weekend,
we catch lionfish, yeah.

♪ ♪

TEN HAKEN:
You feel very free because
you're without any equipment.

It's just ourselves and our,
our bodies and our stamina.

♪ ♪

There's sea all
around the island,

and if there's something
that Curaçao has,

it's sea and fish,

so it's really good
to go out here and, and fish.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

One of us has got
the zookeeper,

and the other one
went looking for fish.

And as soon as we saw one,
we just go down

and we, we try to catch him.

FIGAROA:
Yeah.

♪ ♪

Yeah, I also do it
as a side job.

I'm 15 and I always wanted
to have a side job

and get a lot of, a little bit
of money to buy things.

♪ ♪

No, it's a really good day.

TEN HAKEN: Yeah.
FIGAROA:
Yeah, like, nine kilos?

TEN HAKEN: I guess.

FIGAROA:
It's, yeah, I think it's
nine kilos-- it's a lot.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Now we're going
to put 'em in a...

(speaks world language)
TEN HAKEN:
Cooler.

Cooler, and then we,
we bring it to a restaurant

where they sell them,

where they sell the lionfish,
and they make a lot of dishes.

TEN HAKEN:
It's very funny story.

In fact, Farra actually
didn't eat fish before

she started hunting lionfish.

And now she, she hunted,

hunts lionfish,
she had to start eating them,

and she actually
really likes them.

WASHINGTON:
Farra and Joline are two

of the many divers
on the island

who have helped turn the
lionfish's Atlantic invasion

into a commercial opportunity.

As awareness builds,
invasive lionfish

are becoming an increasingly
popular local dish.

The fish can be used
to create island favorites,

whether it's ceviche
or fried whole.

And the lionfish are not
just caught for eating.

Some businesses are
finding creative ways

of using every part
of the lionfish's body,

like the venomous spines,

to create jewelry
and other products.

Hola!
WOMEN:
Hola!

Todos bien?
Sí.

Pescado.

When I was a kid and was
snorkeling and diving here,

there were so many fish,
and also a lot of big fish.

And when I returned
after ten, 15 years,

you didn't see as
much fish anymore.

You saw the damage on the reef,
on the coral reefs.

From there, I got into

catching the lionfish, first
to control the population.

And from there,
selling it to restaurants.

And from there, the jewelry

to, to make a real life
out of that.

I definitely see that
it can be commercialized,

especially if you
use more of the fish,

and I definitely see
a future there, yeah.

Maybe even a franchise,
you never know.
(laughs)

WASHINGTON:
The key to lionfish
management might be,

turn them into menu items,
earrings, sneakers,

whatever people buy--
because businesses that

revolve around invasive
lionfish not only support

the ecosystem,
but the local economies, too.

VALEK:
It is so fresh.

I don't think it gets fresher
than what we...

FOGG:
Nature tends to find a way
of figuring things out.

While lionfish may
be here to stay,

they're going to find their
place in the ecosystem.

The ecosystem could not
support 200 or 300 lionfish

on a single reef site,
but it certainly can

support maybe ten or 20.

WASHINGTON:
There's no debating
that lionfish have

disrupted the current
balance of biodiversity

along the Atlantic coast.

Is it being destructive
to ecosystems

because it's a villain?

No, the lionfish
is just being... a fish.

MAZZOTTI:
A lot of people

want to say or, or ask the
question,

"Well," you know, "aren't these
things going to,

to balance themselves out?"

Probably, but at what cost?

We could be losing
a native species that

have very important roles
in the environment

that are not replaced by
a non-native species.

SANTANA:
Biodiversity can be valuable

because of its aesthetic
value, or by the appreciation

that we have over this,

all these life forms
that have evolved

over millions
and millions of years.

If we value that,
then I think we have

still the responsibility
to do something

about this
invasive species.

TORNABENE:
It's crazy to think that
one species can have

such a huge impact in
such a short period of time,

but then there are parallels.

It's not unprecedented,
what we're seeing,

but it's certainly alarming.

MAZZOTTI:
You know, "The biggest invasive
species are humans."

Ooh-- maybe we are.

Pretty much everywhere
where humans are now,

they're not native to.

It spreads.

Well, we sure spread.

Has negative impacts...

I don't know.

Should human beings
consider themselves above

these other species,
or are we part of the ecosystem

and realize that yes,
we have our impacts,

but we like each other,
and so the rules

are different for us?

WASHINGTON:
Humans have moved
so many species

all over the world
for millennia,

like the cherished
non-native honeybee.

We now rely on it.

So 500 years from now,

will people embrace
the lionfish as critical

to the Atlantic and
Mediterranean ecosystems?

Will it become a beloved fish
for its beauty and taste?

The lines that divide
invasive, non-native,

and native can be blurred.

And for better or worse,

invasions are now part
of the global ecosystem.

But with each invasion
comes a new discovery

of how nature endures,
and adapts,

shining a light
into uncharted waters.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

ANNOUNCER:
This program is available
with PBS Passport

and on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪