The Caribbean Is Taking A Bite Out Of Its Invasive Lionfish Problem

The Caribbean Is Taking A Bite Out Of Its Invasive Lionfish Problem

Share to Linkedin Imagine a fish species ranked among over fishing, bottom trawling, pollution, and climate change as one of the greatest threats to underwater ecosystems. The expansion of the lionfish in Caribbean waters is "one of the greatest threats of this century to warm temperate and tropical Atlantic reefs and associated habitats," says National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist James A. Morris, Jr. But in the region, fishermen, divers, and chefs have teamed up to rid the reefs of the invasive predator, one delicious bite at a time. It all began on the three-island archipelago of the Cayman Islands. "We had been looking out for them since 2007, when NOAA scientists informed the Cayman Islands Department of the Environment that the invasive fish were headed towards the islands in a current from the Northeast," he recalls. Washington immediately got to work, researching ways to control the venomous underwater carnivore with no known predators— and time was of the essence. Lionfish, originally from the Indian and Pacific oceans, pose a major threat to the Caribbean's underwater ecosystems, voraciously devouring more than 60 species of fish, small fish, eggs, crustaceans, and mollusks— up to half its body size— that are