In January 2010, in recognition of the severity of the lionfish invasion and its impact on coral reefs and local communities, the 24th General Meeting of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) agreed to establish an Ad hoc Committee tasked with developing a strategic plan for lionfish control in the Wider Caribbean. The strategy was designed through consensus among regional and national stakeholders in order to build upon existing programs and efforts aimed at reducing the impacts of lionfish in the Wider Caribbean Region, and to provide a framework for action that would facilitate a coordinated regional response to the threat posed by this species.

Given that the lionfish invasion affects several countries in the Wider Caribbean, including those of the Mesoamerican Reef System (MAR), and in an effort to build upon previous initiatives, representatives from the four countries that share the MAR (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras) met in Guatemala City in May 2014 to learn about the strategy adopted by Wider Caribbean countries in response to this threat and to develop a strategy for lionfish control in this region.

The workshop was made possible through the financial support of German Cooperation through KfW, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Regional Activity Centre for the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Protocol (SPAW-RAC), the MAR Fund, and the technical support of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP, by its Spanish acronym) and Reef Check Dominican Republic (RCDR).