A record catch of 72 lionfish were landed during the weekend’s Groundswell Lionfish Tournament based at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS).

The event attracted 94 participants on eight lionfish catching teams, all of them using spears.

The tournament was designed to help rid local waters of the lionfish which they can be eaten. Those taking part were given the opportunity to eat and learn how to prepare lionfish.

Of the fish that were speared over half were cooked by chefs.

Groundswell is a charity that has organised the tournament since it began in 2009 as part of their ‘Eat ‘em to Beat ‘em’ campaign to raise awareness for the growing lionfish population in Bermuda’s oceans.

Lionfish are an invasive species which feed off many of the reef organisms and can easily disrupt the reef ecosystem.

Matthew Strong the co-director of Groundswell said: “We were happy with the event as we had more fish caught, more people attend and more people on the water than ever before.”

“We want to encourage people about the problem all year round.

“If we want to fight against the lionfish we’ll need the support of the people.

“This is just one event we do; we do other awareness projects for not just lionfish but the whole marine environment. We want to do something similar for the winter as well but we haven’t planned it out yet.”