According to scuba diving news site DiverWire.com , a group of concerned scuba divers and local business leaders in the Cayman Islands have come together to produce a new educational video about the Lionfish Invasion.
The group, LionfishUniversity.com has just unveiled the new video titled, "Take a Lionfish to lunch...and Eat It". Participants in the project include Jim Hart (screenwriter), Courtney Platt (photographer) and Stacy Frank (avid scuba diver). The group met in Grand Cayman in November, 2012 in response to the enormous problems created by the invasive lionfish throughout the Caribbean.
According to Stacy Frank, “We initially were gathering background research for a horror script involving lionfish and quickly realized that these beautiful fish had morphed into monsters in the wrong ocean and were devastating the reefs and the ecosystem where they had invaded outside of their native range. We felt compelled to do what we could to help fight the onslaught.”
She continues, “We had spent a few days at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute on Little Cayman last summer getting updates on the invasion when some very good news from the institute was published showing that essentially culling lionfish with spears does work.”
Last month, the Lionfish University group met with key volunteers (Frans and Stef De Backer Cinematographers, John Ferguson, Katie O’Neill, Dr. Gerardo Ochoa-Vargas, Jason Washington of Ambassador Divers, Lindsay Japal: Miss Cayman Islands, Chef Thomas Tennant of Michael’s Genuine, Sarah Jones of Ambassador Divers and Stephen Broadbelt of Ocean Frontiers) and did some brainstorming about doing a Public Service Announcement relating to the lionfish invasion. Stephen suggested that the most impactful message we could get across to help would be to let people know that lionfish taste good and increase demand for these delicious tasting fish!
The video shows how easily a lionfish can be transformed from a predator into the tasty meal.
So coupled with previous projects – Culling Works!, Lionfish Taste Good! and Saving the Reefs! – the group produced its first Lionfish University Public Service Announcement: Take a Lionfish to Lunch…and EAT IT! starring Lindsay Japal, Miss Cayman Islands. It’s about conservation cuisine and Go Green, Eat Red….Lionfish!
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