Lionfish Removal & Awareness Event May 19-20 at Flora-Bama Yacht Club

Lionfish Removal & Awareness Event May 19-20 at Flora-Bama Yacht Club
Event includes May 20 benefit concert with Little Texas & lionfish tournament
A Lionfish Removal and Awareness event will be held at the Flora-Bama Yacht Club on Perdido Key May 19-20 from 10 a.m. ‘til 5 p.m.
The 4th annual event is free to attend and will include conservation effort and educational booths, lionfish tastings prepared by celebrity chefs, live music and a lionfish tournament.
For the first time ever, the event will include a benefit concert featuring Little Texas on May 20 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 each and on sale at florabama.com. coastwatchalliance.org. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit lionfish related conservation, outreach, and research initiatives. The Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day was created to increase awareness of the invasive lionfish population and support efforts to irradicate them and helps restore the ecosystems and reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.​ Lionfish are an invasive species that was introduced to the Southern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico over 20 years ago. With Lionfish numbers rampantly increasing, local fish, reefs and ecosystems are suffering. The LRAD tournament and fest aims to drastically decrease the number of lionfish in gulf coastal waters.
Presented by Coast Watch Alliance, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Gulf Coast Lionfish, Florida Sea Grant and other organizations, the event will promote awareness about the lionfish’s devastation effect on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.
Lionfish, which have 18 venomous spines along their backs and sides, are native to the waters of the Indo-Pacific region and began to flourish off Florida in the 1980s when aquarium collectors released some of the fish in the area. Each female lionfish spawns millions of eggs a year and the species has no known natural predators in the northern Gulf. Lionfish eat native fish including grouper and snapper.
Founded in 2014 to address the important reef health issues in the Gulf of Mexico, Coast Watch Alliance is a nonprofit that works with business leaders and scientists to responsibly educate and motivate communities to protect our most precious natural resources. Info: facebook, CoachWatchAlliance.org or 850-619-8885.

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Little Texas celebrating 24th year together

A benefit concert by Little Texas at the Flora-Bama Yacht Club on May 20 at 5 p.m. will be among the highlights of the fourth annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day Fest at the bistro. Tickets will be available at the event or at florabama.com/liltexas.
As part of the Young Country movement of the early ‘90s, Little Texas were responsible for shaking up the country music world with a new, energetic sound that fused the look and attitude of modern rock music with traditional country themes and styles, bringing a much appreciated bolt of life into the genre. For their efforts, country fans the world over richly rewarded the band, buying up over 7 million of their albums, while critics showered them with 3 Grammy nominations plus honors for Vocal Group Of The Year and Album Of The Year.
Their first radio release in 1991, “Some Guys Have All The Love,” became a Top-10 hit, as did their next single, “First Time For Everything.” After the album First Time For Everything was released, five singles reached the top of the charts. The second album, Big Time, truly was the big time for Little Texas.
The music the band has generated over the years is timeless, and has been featured on hundreds of television programs and sporting events,
“The four of us appreciate each other and still have a ball on stage,” said drummer Del Gray of the band’s chemistry on stage after all this time. “There is a comfort level that happens to us when we play together that can only happen with 20-something years of experience.”