Patrick van Brakel
LionFish Snack Aruba
Patrick is a lionfish hunter and is the owner and operator of LionFish Snack Aruba. Patrick has been in the Lionfish Community and hunting lionfish since 2013!
About Patrick
25 years ago I arrived on Aruba as a primary school teacher. Started diving Aruba’s coastline and when the LionFish reached our reefs it was a logical step to catch and cook them. I started to catch a lot and was trying to sell them to restaurants. But not always successful in selling them. That made me think of building a Snack where all hunters can always sell their fish. A few years later LionFish Snack Aruba was born. I quit my full time teacher job and became a professional LionFish Hunter and cook.
What do you like about lionfish hunting?
I always had a connection with nature.
What do you like about the lionfish community?
Being under water enjoying wildlife and protecting it is the ultimate job. People with common love for nature.
We are also in the process of finding out how to catch Lionfish beyond diving depths.
Aruba’s water is not easy. Lots of currents and wind make it difficult to deploy deepwater traps. We had some failures but without failures there will be no success.
