Can you make a silk purse from a sow’s ear?
The citizens of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, are trying. In this case, the dubious item is no part of a pig, but an invasive, rapacious Asian fish that has mushroomed along both coasts of Florida, across the Caribbean, and into the Atlantic as far south as Brazil—the lionfish.
Lionfish reproduce exponentially. They gobble up multitudes of fish a day. Their voracious behavior is threatening the native fish stocks and reef life of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They have no natural predators.
And they’re really good to eat.
“Definitely a silver lining, right?” observed Parker Destin, local restaurateur, community leader, and a sixth-generation descendant of the settler whose name the city bears.
“Lionfish is one of the best flaky white fish you could serve on your dinner plate,” Destin continued. “If I could have it on the menu every day, I would. A literal fish-to-table experience. Take something bad and make it into something good.”
A Difficult Catch
Ah, if only things were that easy: Wiping out an invasive species by culinary action. “Eat ‘em to beat ’em” urges a slogan that apparently originated in Bermuda.But lionfish cuisine presents several problems. First and foremost, they are not simple to harvest and thus do not readily lend themselves to commercial fishing. As solitary reef predators, hook-and-line won’t work—“think I’ve seen a lionfish on the line twice in 10 years,” reported another area restaurateur and wholesale fishmonger, Eddie Morgan. They are not school fish, so netting and trawling not only wouldn’t work, it would damage seabeds and reefs.
The only practical way to harvest lionfish is by hand—spearfishing. Doing so requires scuba and spearfishing gear, which are not bargain items. Diving is no walk in the park. And a special bonus issue: Lionfish have venomous spines, complicating the process of cleaning your catch. (Best to snip them off with scissors.) Last but not least, divers can catch, kill, and cook however many lionfish they like—there’s no limit—but to sell them, such as to Destin’s restaurant, requires a Florida commercial sale license. It’s only $50, but still one more obstacle.
DFWB’s answer is to try to make the problem a visitor attraction: Lure tourists to the area for lionfish hunting. Thus Destin’s annual Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament, to be held this year, its third, on May 13 and 14. Tourism officials, chefs and restaurant operators, and conservationists all hope hundreds of divers will descend on local waters and snag as many lionfish as they can.
The most prolific spearfisher gets a trophy and $10,000; there’s also a $5,000 prize for the biggest fish, which usually weighs in between 3 and 4 pounds. The week leading up to the tournament, May 8–14, six local restaurants will feature lionfish on their menus, largely using fish caught during a “pre-tournament” event that has brought spearfishers to northeast Florida since early February. Last year, the event drew 100 spearfishing participants and 7,000 people to the accompanying festival, and eradicated 14,000 lionfish.
Working Up an Appetite
Few if any invasive species anywhere on Earth have been erased from their new ranges, and attempts to control them have sometimes gone grievously wrong. Precious few others are edible, let alone delicious. Lionfish is a rarity: invasive but useable.Though just mid-size—18 inches—mature lionfish are conspicuous, with vividly patterned long fins jutting out at all angles—the reason for the problem in the first place. Like so many invasives (usually plants), lionfish were and still are sold to Americans for decorative purposes—in this case, in aquariums.
Sometime in the 1980s, not long after they first appeared in the Western Hemisphere, they began to show up in Southeast saltwaters, meaning aquarium owners had for whatever reason tossed them into local streams, or even just flushed them down the toilet. As Michael Crichton memorably put it in “Jurassic Park,” “life finds a way,” and this form of life was soon out of control, gobbling up young native grouper, snapper, flounder, and other prime Atlantic fish species.
“We aren’t hoping to wipe out lionfish; that’s impossible,” conceded Alex Fogg, a marine biologist who’s working with the area’s tourism bureau. “But dedicated harvesting can definitely have a beneficial impact in localized areas, helping native fishes recover, and if we manage that, great.”
So how do you cook it, assuming you happen to have a platter of lionfish filets? Destin and Morgan report it is great simply grilled, deep-fried, or pan-roasted. Morgan likens it to cod or haddock, cold-water flaky white fish.
“Makes great sushi, too,” he added; his Harbor Docks restaurant includes a sushi bar. “We do face some resistance from customers due to unfamiliarity, but if you can get them to try it, they love it.”
As Alex Fogg declares, “we can combat invasive species and put yummy fish on the table. What’s not to like?”
If You Go: Emerald Coast Open
Eat ‘em to Beat ‘em: The week leading up to the tournament, May 8–14, is the Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Restaurant Week. Six local restaurants will feature lionfish in unique dishes on their menus.
