If You Can’t Beat Them, Eat Them: WWF Urges Greeks to East Invasive Fish

The lionfish is among the invasive food that tin beryllium eaten, says WWF. Credit: Alexander Vasenin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is urging Greek consumers to incorporated much invasive taxon into their diets, arguing that this could assistance mitigate the ecological menace these non-native fish airs to the Aegean Sea.

“A caller world has emerged successful the market, peculiarly successful Southern Greece and the Dodecanese islands, wherever non-native taxon are progressively prevalent,” said Panagiota Stappa, an subordinate with the WWF marine programme. “Over time, we expect to spot an adjacent greater assortment of these taxon appearing connected the market,” she told AFP.

Greek consumers are unfamiliar with invasive fish

Greek fishermen are anxious to merchantability these fish, which are presently discarded arsenic bycatch due to the fact that consumers are unfamiliar with them, explained Michalis Margaritis, the WWF’s tract fishery manager.

He highlighted an lawsuit connected 1 Greek land wherever 400 kilograms of spinefoot (Siganus luridus) were simply thrown away. Despite being notoriously destructive to the seabed, the spinefoot is “incredibly rich” successful food lipid and “very tasty,” according to Margaritis.

However, user hesitation remains a important barrier. “People debar non-native taxon due to the fact that they are intimidated by them,” cook Giorgos Tsoulis told AFP. “I judge it volition instrumentality galore years to alteration these habits.”

Seafood guide

To code this, the WWF unveiled a revised mentation of its “Responsible Seafood Guide”.

The updated usher present includes 13 invasive taxon that were absent from the 2015 edition. Among the invaders present encroaching connected section waters are the Atlantic shrimp (Penaeus aztecus) and the bluish crab (Callinectes sapidus) successful the bluish Aegean, arsenic good arsenic the venomous lionfish (Pterois miles) successful the south. In immoderate regions, specified arsenic Rhodes, 3 invasive mullet taxon are actively crowding retired the autochthonal reddish mullet.

“Many radical whitethorn already beryllium eating non-native taxon without realizing it,” Margaritis added.

Related: Marine Heatwaves Bring Threatening Invasive Fish to Greece