Okay, we get this question from time to time: why don’t we encourage people to develop a palate for invasive species as a way to control them? The usual answer is that encouraging human uses of invasive species encourages people to move them around, either intentionally, to create new populations for exploitation, or accidentally, because they’re bringing them along to cook later and they escape.

But here’s an interesting example from today’s news: Officials from NOAA are encouraging the development of a market for lionfish meat and a fishery to supply it as a way to control explosive population growth of a highly destructive invasive species.

Story at MSNBC

I’d like to know how they taste dredged through a thick beer batter and fried and served on a pile of french fries and a generous slosh of vinegar.

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