For the past couple of years, the Mediterranean Sea has been attracting a litany of invasive fish prone to more tropical climates. In Greece, one of those species, the lionfish, has become a headache for the local fishing industry. but there is a potential solution: a bit of gastronomic ingenuity.

Neapoli

Fishermen along the Peloponnese coast in Greece are experiencing a significant decline in their daily fish hauls, with some reporting catches reduced by at least half. The cause is the rapid proliferation of the invasive lionfish, a species native to the Indian Ocean that has spread through the Suez Canal, thriving in the warming Mediterranean waters. Lionfish are particularly problematic because they consume the eggs of other fish, reproduce quickly, and have no natural predators in the region.

In response, environmental groups and local restaurants are promoting lionfish as a culinary option. Volunteers are training chefs on how to safely prepare the fish, which is described as tender and flavorful. This initiative aims to create a market for lionfish, offering fishermen a new source of income while helping to control the invasive species' population. As Mediterranean waters continue to warm, the lionfish is expected to spread further west, making these efforts increasingly important.

Greece’s gastronomic solution to invasive lionfish problem

The turquoise waters off the Peloponnese coast are becoming warmer, and fishermen in this small Greek town are noticing. Every day in Neapoli is a battle to retrieve fish, one that Ioannis Kapakos feels he is losing. Lately, his hauls have dramatically reduced. Before, I used to catch up to 10 to 12 kilos of fish here. Today, the amount of fish has decreased by at least 50 per cent. A hardy, invasive threat has been proliferating in the area for more than two years. It's called the lionfish. It is very beautiful. The problem is that it eats all the other fish eggs. It has 18 venomous spines and no predators in the Mediterranean Sea. Here comes another one, and you see today we caught a sea bream, three to four good fish from the grouper to a tentacle fish, and the rest are lionfish. We have one, two, three, four, five, six, six. A hard-to-beat opponent, the lionfish can eat up to six times its own weight. It reproduces every two or three days, and each year a single female can lay a monstrous two million eggs. Add to that, its life expectancy is 30 years. The lionfish is native to the Indian Ocean, but as the climate has shifted, it has been attracted to warmer waters in the Mediterranean and entered through the Suez Canal. It was first spotted in Israel in 1991, then Lebanon in 2012, before it spread to Cyprus in 2014. Now it's taken hold in southern Greece. Here in the port of Neapoli, the entire fishing community is affected. Is that all you caught? Yes, that's all. Oof, not even enough to pay for the boat's fuel. Little known and considered dangerous, lionfish do not sell here. The dozens of kilos caught daily end up in the bin. If we can't sell this fish, I want to give up my fishing license and do something else. I don't know, maybe be a waiter, because the sea, it's finished. But there is one solution. If you can't beat it, eat it. Nearby on the small Greek island of Elefnisos, an environmental organization is trying to create a supply chain. The first step is to remove the spine, which is the hardest and most dangerous, as they cause a lot of pain. And there you have it, now the fish is harmless. Matteo Cavesi, an Italian volunteer, visits restaurant kitchens to explain how to prepare lionfish, which has many qualities. They only eat small, young fish that do not yet have heavy metals in their bodies. This flesh is truly excellent. It can be filleted and there's quite a lot of flesh compared to its size. So it is a fleshy and tender fish, ideal for carpaccio. The couple who run this restaurant are convinced. It's a cheap, delicious, easy to prepare and really tasty fish. Everyone should try it. It's scary, yes, but if you eat it, you're doing a good deed. It's better to eat millions of lionfish than the last tuna in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is one of the fastest warming areas in the world, and the lionfish is not expected to stop in Greece. As temperatures increase, the predator will likely move west, to waters off Italy and France.

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