FINAL LIONFISH UPDATE & PLAN:
Ok so I now understand what the lay of the land is. T&C has started a NEW environmental program to help manage, learn more about and ensure that no one and no reef is hurt while trying to cull the invasive lionfish from its waters. It takes the task seriously...perhaps too seriously and its first pass of rules and regulations are QUITE RIGID. I will post some of the guidelines and hurdles the program faces along with how those translate to the boat actually offering lionfish hunting within the new legal parameters.
I also found out today that we are the only group so far that EV trusts to even attempt the compliance effort required on their part because of our maturity, ability to stop hunting when things become too frenzied and that other than a few stings no one was hurt nor acted irresponsibly and we obeyed all the Capt's orders regarding hunting. This is a really big complement and corresponding responsibility.
So after nearly an hour discussion with the boat here is what we have agreed too. We are going to proceed as if this WILL BE A HUNTING TRIP. We will post the information we have currently about the new program T&C rolled out 6 months ago and just recently revamped drastically. We will check back in 6 months on the one year anniversary of the program and see where their thought process has matured too. Will they be even more restrictive? Will they raise the fee even higher to pay for the in water compliance spotters and policing force they wish to create? Will they have abandoned the program all together or will they have found some happy mediums. They will soon have a day boat 'lionfish derby' so should learn a great deal about what aspects of their program work best and potentially what does not work well in a 'real life' situation.
So as I said...we will proceed as if this will be a hunting and Marine Park Donation trip. If we are unable to comply with their program requirements both as divers and as the vessel ....then we will have to abandon the idea. BUT we sincerely hope in the next 13 months time is on our side and we can make this work out for our divers.
On the plus side.... if the day boats are starting to do culls and derby's the reefs should be clearER already of these nasty little monsters. And several of our MANY REPEAT T&C DIVERS have said the sharks have still been quite visible even without direct hunting on the boat. MAYBE THE DAY OPERATORS ARE HAVING SUCCESS IN THIS ARENA AS WELL.
So as soon as we know the 'current price for the lionfish program' we will post it and open the trip. The fee will be under the NOT COVERED pricing for the trip. KEEP IN MIND IT WILL BE A MANDATORY FEE EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HUNT. We will use the money to donate to the marine park to pay for spears for the guides etc. WE WILL HOWEVER REFUND ALL FEES TO THE DIVER IF THE MARINE PARK ABANDONS THE LIONFISH PROGRAM ENTIRELY AND PROHIBITS ALL HUNTING UNDER ANY AND ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.
I hope this makes sense to everyone....
1. This will be a hunting trip where EVERYONE makes a donation to the Marine park even if they do not hunt.
2. Because the program is very new, there is a slight chance it may not exist in 13 months.
3. We are confident that the rules of the program will continue to evolve so we will keep you apprised as to where things stand going forward.
4. If the program is abandoned and/or is not possible to be complied with...at the last minute we will make the decision to either proceed but just make a marine park donation or to scrub the idea until the program has settled out and refund your donation fee.
5. As we get closer to the trip we will know if the fee will be $75 or $100 or somewhere in between.
I hope this covers all our bases. Currently the price per person donation to the Marine park is $75-$100 depending on whether they require in water spotters from the Marine park or not. We do not expect this price to go up but it could be on the higher end of our estimated range and hopefully on the lower end. 
Here is the information about Lionfish hunting in T&C. It is totally governed by the TCI government and requires a license/donation to the Marine Park for everyone on the boat:
- 75USD/person to Department of Environment and Coastal Resources - can be as much as $100 per person
- Every person on the boat, even if they are not lionfish hunting also needs to have a license including crew (this is why the price can be as high as $100 per person )
- Application, copy of dive card, copy of passport need to be submitted for everyone on the boat
- Not permitted in the marine park without prior approval from the director of DECR. He needs to be informed when and where prior to going (This must be set up in advance right down to the exact time so that the park can send park officials to dive and/or spot to see if the rules are being enforced. If weather changes the pre-arranged dive plan there is no hunting for the plan "B" site, only the originally scheduled site. etc)
- pole spear or Hawaiian sling can be used on scuba but no spearguns (Spears are not part of the fee)
Because the rules are in flux and very stringent/costly we have not allowed lionfish hunting on TCEX2 but will consider it for your group. The good news is that the sharks are frequent visitors on most of our dives even without the hunting.
Now its up to the marine park. 
