What’s for dinner? Assessing the value of an edible invasive species and outreach actions to promote its consumption

Inês Cerveira,Maria Alexandra Teodósio,Pedro Morais,Vânia Baptista

doi:10.1007/s10530-021-02685-3

Inês Cerveira, Maria Alexandra Teodósio + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02685-3

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Abstract

The consumption of edible aquatic invasive species has gained popularity as a means to minimize their impacts while easing pressure on native resources and ecosystems. Weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) is one of the most recent invasive fish species in the Iberian Peninsula (Europe) which once sustained an important fishery in the native range (Northwest Atlantic Ocean). Portugal ranks third in the list of the world’s fish consumers, so promoting a weakfish fishery could at least minimize the impacts upon native species, since weakfish have innate traits that are appreciated by Portuguese fish consumers. However, introducing a new species to consumers is challenging owing to consumers’ habits and unfamiliarity with the species. So, we aimed to (i) evaluate the acceptance of weakfish by a panel of Portuguese fish consumers and (ii) create outreach actions—partnerships with local Chefs and press releases—to explain to a broader audience what invasive species are and promote the consumption of edible aquatic invasive species. We conducted a consumers survey that showed that weakfish has great chances of being well accepted by Portuguese fish consumers– 90% would buy weakfish because they appreciated its appearance, flavor, and texture, besides being a wild fish. The outreach actions reached a few million people because 46 online articles were published, and three news pieces were broadcasted on national television. Our strategy increased the public’s awareness about weakfish as an invasive species, which could be adapted for other non-indigenous marine species elsewhere in the world.

Highlights

The eradication of aquatic invasive species is often impossible (Vander Zanden and Olden 2008; Havel et al 2015) and requires a continuous effort to keep some populations under control (Vander Zanden et al 2010; Simberloff 2020)
What’s for dinner? Assessing the value of an edible invasive species Fig. 5 Gender (A) and age distribution (B) of the consumers that replied to the Weakfish Survey
We provide an overview discussion about the benefits and risks of creating a management plan focused on promoting weakfish as a fishery to mitigate the species ecological impacts and diversify the sources of income of local fishers, fish vendors, and restaurants

Summary

Introduction

The eradication of aquatic invasive species is often impossible (Vander Zanden and Olden 2008; Havel et al 2015) and requires a continuous effort to keep some populations under control (Vander Zanden et al 2010; Simberloff 2020). Invasive species benefit from a wide array of competitive advantages compared to native species, including the absence of predators and naıve prey (Colautti et al 2004). Several species are overexploited in the native range but invasive elsewhere. This sparked the idea to use humans, the Earth’s top predator, to control edible invasive species (Roman 2006; Nunez et al 2012; Lai 2015; Orth et al 2020). The consumption of invasive species has become popular in the United States as a means to control the invasive lionfish Pterois volitans (Linnaeus 1758) and Pterois miles (Benett, 1828) through a campaign whose slogan was ‘‘Eat the lionfish’’ (NOAA 2011), and through the publication of the cookbook The Lionfish Cookbook: The Caribbean’s New Delicacy (Ferguson and Akins 2010). A similar approach is being taken in Colombia by renowned Chef Jorge Rausch (The City Paper 2016)

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