Blue Ventures recently partnered with a well known Belize City restaurant, Nerie’s, to host a three course lionfish dinner with the purpose of promoting Belize’s nascent ‘lionfishery’ and two lionfish jewellery businesses Kaj Expressions and Belioness – Belize Lionfish Jewelry.
Caribbean Culture + Lifestyle reported on this event, also explaining the negative impact of Belize’s invasive lionfish and why eating them is the best solution:
Lionfish are indiscriminate feeders and will eat almost anything. They spawn rapidly and are resistant to disease, plus they have no native predators. All this combined is a recipe for disaster when it comes to the natural balancing of the Belize coastal ecosystem. This is not good news for local fishing communities that depend on the health of the reef for their livelihood.
So what can be done? One of the best ways to manage lionfish populations is to hunt and eat them.
Though they sport an impressive array of venomous spines, lionfish are not poisonous, and their flesh is good to eat! The meat is highly nutritious, containing high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids and low levels of Omega 6 fatty acids, meaning more of what we need, and less of what we don’t need. After being fileted, the fins make for great sea-inspired jewelry!
Read the full article from Caribbean Culture + Lifestyle here: What’s on the menu? Lionfish!
Find out more about what’s being done to manage Belize’s lionfish invasion.