The Essential Image Source Foundation (EISF) joins forces with NOAA/NOS Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research (CCFHR) this month, to explore the invasive red lionfish – its expanding grip on the Coastal Atlantic, behavior, and impact.

With funding provided by NOAA’s Sea Grant and the Aquatic Invasive Species Program, EISF will gather high definition footage for documentary and cutting-edge web-based usage, plus informational products targeted at medical responders; aquarium hobbyists and industry; and public outreach to warn SCUBA divers and anglers of the dangers of Indo-Pacific red lionfish.

EISF Founder and President Susan Sember, as Principal Investigator, is joined in this endeavor by Scientific Advisor Dr. Ford “Bud” Cross, and Paula E. Whitfield, Research Biologist at the NOAA Laboratory on Pivers Island, as Co-Principal Investigators. The filmmaking team includes award-winning cinematographers Norbert Wu and Curtis W. Callaway, and writer Betsy Crowfoot. The crew will depart from Morehead City, North Carolina aboard the state-of-the-art 187-foot research vessel “Nancy Foster” for nine days of research and filming on its first lionfish production shoot July 27th.

Go to our "Behind the Scenes" Blogs for ongoing reportage on the Lions of the Deep and mission logs of the R/V Nancy Foster lionfish production. Check out also the NOAA mission logs at "2006 Lionfish Cruise Logs"

Photograph of lionfish by Paula Whitfield, research biologist at NOAA Beaufort Lab