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Eat Sustainable, Eat Lionfish!

By Sandrah Gurash, August 31, 2010 @ 11:36 AM (EST)

With the lionfish invasion continuing to grow in the Atlantic and Caribbean, the fish is showing up on menus around the Caribbean, the Bahamas and even in the US. NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science has partnered with REEF and Sea To Table for a new “Eat Lionfish” campaign. The campaign includes a series of lionfish tasting events around the US hosted by top chefs, a media blitz including print outlets, pieces presented on major networks and coverage by niche market outlets like The Food Network and The Travel Channel. “Eat Lionfish” kicked off in August on MSNBC and Fox News Channel

According to the NOAA press release for the campaign, “The intent is not to develop a fishery for the lionfish but to consume it out of existence in Caribbean and American waters. Given what we know about the worsening lionfish crisis, we feel that we would be negligent if we did not provide leadership on this issue. While fishermen, seafood wholesalers and restaurants are already demonstrating interest in bringing lionfish to market, we hope to serve as an additional catalyst in this effort. We anticipate that the main lionfish supply will be coming from the Bahamas and from parts of the US where the lionfish population is more established, such as North Carolina.”

Some background on Caribbean Lionfish -

Lionfish are an invasive species to Caribbean waters. Female are ready to reproduce from the time they are about 7.5 inches (19 cm) in length, less than a year of age. They can lay up to 30,000 eggs every 4-5 days. Males are capable of fertilizing the eggs even early in their lives. Approximately 10% of all lionfish reach maturity. That could be up to 1,200 lionfish month from just one mature female.

Not only do lionfish have no natural predators in the Caribbean, but they’re also veracious eaters. Their diet consists of juveniles of other marine species and while they will eat any kind of fish, they’re most found of shrimp, lobster, crab and grouper. Juvenile octopus have also been found in their bellies.

Given their reproduction rates and food needs, left unchecked lionfish have the potential to decimate even the healthiest Caribbean reefs in a very short time. Caribbean dive destinations have been dealing with the lionfish problem in a variety of ways – training dive masters and local divers to catch and/or kill lionfish, holding lionfish tournaments and introducing lionfish into the local cuisine.

Lionfish has already found its way onto restaurant menus and into homes in North Carolina, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Riviera Maya, Belize and other Caribbean destinations. While it’s not an official catch in most areas, fisherman and locals have taken to eating the fish just the same. It’s a firm, white flesh fish that hold up well to many different preparations and its taste and texture is often compared to monkfish (a non-sustainable catch dubbed, “poor man’s lobster”). The Lionfish Hunter has become a popular website for tips and recipes. Everything from lionfish ceviche, lionfish jerky to more traditional fish preparations like battered and grilled.

Slowly but surely, fisheries commissions throughout the Caribbean are taking steps to recognize lionfish as a catch which will lead to the commercial sale of the fish. Cozumel is the latest Caribbean destination to implement the commercial sale of lionfish

As divers and underwater photographers, we all have an interest in keeping the world’s reefs as healthy as possible. In the Caribbean and Atlantic, lionfish have the potential to destroy the reefs we love. If you don’t see lionfish on the menu on your next Caribbean dive vacation, talk to the chef. If it is offered, give it a try.

Comments

Aug 31, 2010 1:42 PM

Robert Wintner wrote:

Lionfish are not the source of this problem. Aquarium collectors and hobbyists introduce or facilitate introduction of potentially invasive species to every ocean in the world on a daily basis. For generations the oceans kept species where they should be. Now many seas and reefs are threatened by unregulated traffic in wildlife for the pet trade. It's a dark hobby, and aquarium collecting will continue to threaten reefs worldwide.

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