From Sport Diver – See Full Article
Divers from all over Florida, nine other U.S. states and the Caribbean descended upon the Emerald Coast of Florida last weekend (May 16-19, 2019) for the world’s largest lionfish tournament and awareness event to date. In the two-day event, divers removed 14,119 lionfish from the Gulf of Mexico, in addition to 5,048 lionfish removed during the pre-tournament period, bringing the grand total to 19,167. 
This year’s tournament saw more participants than any previous year and distributed $48,000 in cash prizes, with the first-place team walking away with a $10,000 check. The winning team, Florida Man, removed 2,241 lionfish among its four team members in a 48-hour period. Florida Man was captained by Josh Livingston, of Destin, Florida. His teammates are Joe Livingston (Destin), Rachel Bowman (Marathon) and John McCain (High Springs).