2026 Lionfish Invitational

Apply now to participate in the 2026 Lionfish Invitational! 

The Lionfish Invitational is a research-based community science expedition to remove invasive lionfish from Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and its surroundings. This effort has grown by leaps and bounds since the first trip in 2015, and is now managed by the nonprofit Lionfish Invitational, Inc. with support from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the sanctuary. All trip activities within the sanctuary are conducted under federal permits.

There are three trips planned this year:

June 21-25, 2026 (Sunday to Thursday)

July 26-30, 2026 (Sunday to Thursday)

September 6-10, 2026 (Sunday to Thursday)

In addition to lionfish removals, these trips will also support three other research projects in the sanctuary.

1.  TPWD's Artificial Reef Monitoring to conduct roving fish and benthic surveys and water collections for eDNA sampling on existing and future artificial reef sites

2. Invasive Regal Damselfish Impact Study with Dr. John Majoris (Penn State) and Dr. Jordan Casey (University of Texas)

3. Angelfish Speciation & Hybridization Patterns with Dr. Remy Gatins from Northeastern University

Applications are due by midnight on March 1, 2026.

This is an electronic distribution list run by Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). The Diving email list provides information on diving-related topics in the Gulf of Mexico. To subscribe to this or any other FGBNMS email list, please visit https://flowergarden.noaa.gov/newsevents/subscribe.html

Postings made to this list are not the views of the Federal Government, inclusive of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce/NOAA/NOS/ONMS/FGBNMS. If you need additional assistance, please contact   flowergarden@noaa.gov.