In early January this year, in the midst of a global pandemic, I was standing maskless at the stern of a diving boat off the coast of a Caribbean island, chatting with an environment department employee about her pandemic and lockdown experience on the island. “It was horrible for that month,” she said, “but since then, life has been pretty good.” She dived down to spear lionfish, an invasive species from the South Pacific that threatens coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean.
We were two strangers chatting, unconcerned about passing on the virus, because the island we were on completely crushed local transmission of COVID-19 by adopting a set of sensible policies. The lionfish, on the other hand, proved to be a more elusive and stubborn enemy. Lionfish arrived in Caribbean waters thanks to irresponsible Floridians in the 1980s that released their pet exotic fish into the waterways. COVID-19 also took a similar path into the Caribbean via a visiting passenger cruise ship. But this time, the island was prepared.
