How Eating Venomous Lionfish Helps the Environment
June 6, 2016 - Now you can do your part to fight the
invasive lionfish—by ordering a delectable dish from a dinner menu. Divers and chefs are promoting a
gastronomical way to control the venomous lionfish population in Florida's coastal waters by introducing the invasive species to the American palate. The non-native lionfish lacks natural predators and is harming native wildlife and habitat. But Pot Roast & Pinot in Pensacola, Florida, is just one restaurant that has found the fish to be tasty enough to add to its menu. The restaurant has partnered with licensed harvesters who can capturehundreds of pounds of lionfish in one dive. The hope is to create a viable commercial industry and save Florida's marine environment by eradicating thelionfish population one bite at a time.
Read "Lionfish May Finally Meet Its Match: The Seafood Aisle" by April Fulton.
ALEX FOGG OFF-CAMERA: Fortunately lionfish is an invasive species that actually tastes good. On a weekly basis, I’m getting calls from a number of places throughout the country really asking when the next time is we’re going out to hunt lionfish because they need fish for an event or just to put on their menu.
ALEX FOGG, LIONFISH RESEARCHER, COMMERCIAL LIONFISH HARVESTER:
My motive to go out there in hunting these fish is not only to provide some relief to the reefs but also put some money in my pocket. Right now, divers are the only way you can get a lot of lionfish.
ON-SCREEN TEXT: The lionfish are quickly placed in a puncture resistant containment unit because their venomous barbs can stab the divers.
ON-SCREEN TEXT: Divers use polespears to harvest lionfish safely, quickly and in large quantities.
GRAYSON SHEPARD, COMMERCIAL LIONFISH HUNTER: I’d say that particular dive at 120 feet, I think we had about 17-18 minutes of bottom time. In that timeframe, I would say we were able to kill around 140-150 lionfish.
I went down and basically selected the largest ones of the herd, and then continued to circle around the structure and progressively shooting as they got smaller and smaller.
ALEX FOGG, LIONFISH RESEARCHER, COMMERCIAL LIONFISH HARVESTER: Really, you can go out on a good day and get three, four hundred pounds of fish and make a few thousand dollars. It’s a pretty awesome process.
In some cases, the wholesaler is actually a restaurant. And that’s we’re going to bring the fish today.
ALEX FOGG ON-CAMERA: Right now we’re at Pot Roast & Pinot, which is a restaurant but they also possess a wholesale license which allows them to purchase lionfish from properly licensed divers―those who possess a saltwater products license. It’s only a $50 license here in Florida. [It] makes it very easy for people to harvest lionfish and sell it to their local restaurants.
JOE ABSTON, OWNER, POT ROAST & PINOT, PENSACOLA, FLORIDA: We’re actually going to be frying whole lionfish. We’re also going to be doing some lionfish filets on Louisiana-style jambalaya.
We use such a high ratio of the fish. We can use the backbones after we fileted it. We use the entire fish. We take everything except the meat under the head. We figured out that can get this amazingly high percentage of yield out of a three-inch, a five-inch, a ten inch, a twelve-inch fish. It doesn’t really matter.
So, we’re paying the divers to go down and clear the reef. Don’t leave any lionfish alive. Kill them all, bring them back and we’ll pay for it.
DINER ON-SCREEN: Wow!
JOE ABSTON ON-SCREEN: Light, flakey that has nothing other than salt and pepper.
DINER ON-SCREEN: That is very good!
ALEX FOGG, LIONFISH RESEARCHER, COMMERCIAL LIONFISH HARVESTER: In these of lionfish, it’s a very white flesh, it’s very good to eat and people like it. If you’re not a seafood lover, you’ll probably like seafood after having lionfish.
