EAT ‘EM TO BEAT ‘EM

Helping cull invasive lion sh from Florida waters starts on your dinner plate.

// BY MELISSA PETERSON

Lionfish are an invasive fish species that has, over 30 or so years, spread from South Florida through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico and now has a range from North Carolina to South America, wreaking havoc on marine habitats and native species along its way, with Florida especially taking a serious hit.

“Virtually all estuaries, coastal and offshore waters in Florida have been invaded by lionfish,” says Dr. Steve Gittings, chief scientist, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “They can be found in nearly every habitat type but are most abundant over hardbottoms and reefs and tend to be most crowded around artificial reefs. Florida is where the invasion started, but it’s also the place with the most intense response by the state government, non-profits and the public.”

So how did lionfish—native to coral reefs in the tropical waters of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans—get into Florida waters to begin with? Most scientists agree that the first few lionfish in Florida waters, which were seen north of Miami in the mid-1980s, were released from personal aquariums.

“It’s common for people to dump their pets when they no longer want them, and few people want to kill them,” says Dr. Gittings. “It’s assumed that someone dumped lionfish into a canal in the area, but we don’t know exactly how many were in the population that eventually exploded around the year 2000. It was probably a fairly small number.”

Unfortunately, a small number can quickly get out of hand, as females become reproductive in their first year of life and lay over 30,000 eggs every three to four days. In addition, they can tolerate a wide range of temperatures, depths and salinities, and because eggs and larvae drift in plankton for about a month, they can disperse very far on currents.

Since the population explosion, the consequences to Florida’s marine environment have been dire. Lionfish have no natural predators in our waters and are equipped with insatiable appetites.

“This voracious and prolific invader threatens to overeat or outcompete native marine life, including some commercially important species, like snapper and grouper,” says Dr. Gittings. “Lionfish are what we call ‘generalist’ feeders. They eat just about any type of fish they can catch. Studies in some locations have shown that native fish can be reduced by well over half very quickly. And there are ecosystem-wide implications. By gobbling up fish that eat algae, for example, lionfish remove grazers that keep algae from spreading wildly and smothering reefs— growth that, left unchecked, eliminates habitat for a host of other marine life. Large algae populations can also limit recreational opportunities and thus lead to loss of tourism revenue.”

Fortunately, scientists from NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Geological Survey are leading the way in the fight against lionfish. As Dr. Gittings explains, NOAA scientists were some of the first to do studies on the biology and ecology of lionfish, as well as discovering the high nutritional quality of lionfish, raising the hopes for its prominence in the seafood market.

“Staff in NOAA’s national marine sanctuaries have been actively monitoring lionfish populations and effects, removing them from areas they can, conducting

training that would help people get permits for spearfishing and other forms of removal and doing education programs to increase awareness and citizen action that can help keep lionfish populations in check,” he says. “For the last few years, I have been developing traps that could support captures in deep water and sale on commercial markets.”

On an individual level, anyone who cares about the lionfish problem can play a part in controlling the problem, whether that be through participation in organized fishing derbies and tournaments or hunting lionfish on their own.

“There are those who organize events to promote citizen action, develop equipment like spears and protective containers, make

and sell jewelry from lionfish, write lionfish cookbooks, create apps for people to track their hunting history and hotspots of lionfish abundance or create social networks for communication between people who care about the issue,” Dr. Gittings says. “For anyone who is intrigued by lionfish, their level of caring and imagination are the only limits to how they can contribute to the solution.”

If you’re interested in trying your hand at hunting lionfish, know that you’re not likely to catch one on a hook (although never say never) and the best way to catch them is by spear, as they’re easy to approach and shoot. You should also know that their venomous spines are extremely sharp, although they won’t kill you. If you’re serious about hunting them, make sure to do your research before embarking on your adventure. There is a fourpart YouTube series from Lionfish University that can get you started.

“[The FWC has] over the years financially supported tournaments and research,” says Amanda Nalley, a public information specialist with the FWC. “We have our annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Festival and Day. We host a Lionfish Challenge event every summer. We have programs that encourage dive shops to teach people to remove lionfish. Lionfish will never be eradicated, but we can control the impact they are having.”

For the non-hunters among us, you can still do your part by consuming lionfish. Although their spines are venomous, lionfish meat and organs have no poisons, and they pose no greater danger than eating any other species.

“We encourage people to order, buy and eat lionfish and to be willing to pay more for it to drive up demand,” says Dr. Gittings. “Without demand, there will be no incentive for the fishing community to target lionfish, and no way for us to control their abundance in deep water areas of the invasion area. With demand, people will supply the market with fish from all depths as long as their populations support it, and if lionfish become too rare to support a fishery, we will have done our job in controlling an invasion that we started.”

Lists of Florida restaurants serving lionfish can be found online, and Florida Whole Foods Markets often carry the fish. Lionfish have a white, mild-tasting flaky meat that some have compared to hogfish. And beyond avoiding the spines, lionfish can be filleted

LIONFISH CEVICHE*

Courtesy of Robyn Lindars, grillgirl.com

• 2 lbs lion sh lets • 1 cup lime juice, approximately 7 large limes • 1⁄4 tsp lime zest • 1 tbsp white vinegar • 1 red onion, thinly sliced • 1-2 jalapeno or serrano pepper, diced • 2 medium sized tomatoes, diced • 1 large bunch cilantro, chopped • 2 avocados, diced • fresh ground pepper, to taste • sea salt, to taste

Chop the lion sh into small chunks, making sure that they are evenly sized. Chop all veggies, and set aside. Juice your limes; combine with vinegar. Add the sh and all veggies except the avocado to the lime juice mixture. Let marinate for at least 20 minutes or until the sh is opaque. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with avocado. Serve with plantain or yucca chips for a nice appetizer or light meal with a fresh strawberry and lime.

and eaten the same as any other fish. Once you’ve tracked it down, try one of our favorite recipes that’s perfect for summer, courtesy of the Grill Girl Robyn Lindars. See more of her recipes at grillgirl.com.

For more information on Lion sh //

There are plenty of resources for learning more about Florida’s lion sh infestation. Here are a few helpful links: MyFWC.com/Lion sh, fwcreefrangers. com, sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lion sh, nas.er.usgs.gov and https://bit.ly/2RO1TUV (Lion sh University YouTube channel).