•½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
•1 teaspoon kosher salt
Jerk Spice
•1 teaspoon cinnamon
•2 teaspoons allspice
•1 teaspoon clove
•1 teaspoon nutmeg
•2 teaspoons black pepper
•1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
•1 teaspoon kosher salt
West Indian Spice
•1 teaspoon ginger
•1 teaspoon coriander
•½ teaspoon cardamom
•1 teaspoon black pepper
•½ teaspoon cinnamon
•1 teaspoon star anise
•1 teaspoon turmeric
•1 teaspoon kosher salt
For us at Jade Mountain and Anse Chastanet, sustainability is not a lofty idea but a fundamental and necessary endeavor. Our concept is centered on the food and drink, of course, but it’s also about our team, our facilities, our practices, and the hundreds of decisions we make each day that affect the world around us. We believe it’s about finding a balance that allows us to sustain our quest of making quality, accessible food while also giving back to our community and the environment.
Throughout coastal Florida as well as the Caribbean, coral reefs are home to a wide variety of plants and animals. Some of these reefs date back over fifty million years. Many of the small reef fish feed on the plants and tiny creatures that make up the reef. In the natural course of the food chain, little fish are nourishment for bigger fish. Larger fish become prey for larger sea creatures, and so on, up to the apex predators of the deep.
Not only are the reefs at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and climate change, but lionfish are devastating many of the reefs in the Caribbean. They are eating many times their fair share of the nourishment present in the habitat. They have no predators in these waters as they are an invasive species. Therefore, we need to step in and eat lionfish.
Sustainability Recommendations
For Red lionfish (Pterois volitans) and Devil firefish (Pterois miles)
These two species are caught by spear and as incidental bycatch in the Florida Caribbean spiny lobster pot and lobster trap fishery. The lionfish fishery is found in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. There is low conservation concern, as lionfish are an invasive species outside of the Indo-Pacific and are detrimentally affecting native species through predation and resource competition. As a result, managers are focusing on ways to reduce and prevent further spread of the lionfish population. There are no bycatch species for the spearfish fishery since lionfish are targeted.
There is currently no fishery management plan for lionfish aimed at conserving stock size, but multiple control plans are in the process of being developed among local, state, federal, and international partners and are available. There are no regulations in place for the lionfish fishery in Atlantic or Gulf state waters, but it is illegal to transport and release live lionfish.
Lionfish are fished with spears and traps. These gear types tend to cause moderate to no impact on benthic habitats. Spiny lobster traps are deployed in a variety of habitats where they will not harm the rocky reefs and coral, but often in sand and seagrass areas, so gear impact will vary with habitat. Finally, lionfish are both competitors with and apex predators on ecologically, commercially, and recreationally important species; hence, their reduction or removal from the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico will greatly benefit the native species.
Excerpt from Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Report
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program evaluates the ecological sustainability of both wild-caught and farmed seafood commonly found in the United States marketplace. Seafood Watch defines sustainable seafood as originating from sources, whether wild-caught or farmed, which can maintain or increase production in the long term without jeopardizing the structure or function of affected ecosystems. Seafood Watch makes its science-based recommendations available to the public in the form of regional pocket guides that can be downloaded from www.seafoodwatch.org. The program’s goals are to raise awareness of important ocean conservation issues and empower seafood consumers and businesses to make choices for healthy oceans.
Turning the Tables
Lionfish are unwelcome and do not belong in the tropical Atlantic. Their natural domain is in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, where they are a normal part of the reef ecosystem. Here in the Caribbean, they are wreaking havoc on the reefs and coastal waters almost all the way around the Gulf of Mexico and up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States. To counter this destructive trend, many active stakeholders and researchers are doing their part to eradicate the problem. Here, we are trying to encourage the commercial hunting of the species as well as volunteer lionfish culls and derbies. Marine scientists recommend catching and eating lionfish as one of the most effective ways of curbing their population growth and controlling their expansion. When you choose to buy lionfish, you’re helping to prevent the spread of this invasive species.
In the Caribbean, it’s common to see lionfish hovering above the reefs throughout the day and gathering in groups of up to ten or more on a single coral head. They are ferocious eaters that typically flutter their fins to herd smaller fish into a group, then when they have cornered their prey, they pounce. Divers are using a similar strategy; as the lionfish gather together to eat, it is the opportune time for divers to strike with their spears, when they can spear one after another in a maximally productive way. Hunter divers can capture hundreds in a single day.
With fishing comes fishing tournaments. And over the past few years, several lionfish derbies have launched throughout the region; these are often organized as special day-long or weekend-long tournaments with generous cash prizes for winners. These events are primarily for the purpose of collecting, removing, and, most importantly, eating as many lionfish as possible. They have proven to be incredibly popular among local fisherman, dive groups, boat owners, and their families and friends. Not only can you enjoy tasting lionfish in every form imaginable at these events, you can also relish taking part in the accompanying festivities, which often include live music and cooking demonstrations by chefs. Notably, these derby events help to draw media attention to the Atlantic lionfish invasion as well as help grow the commercial lionfish market. This sustainable awareness is one of the goals of this lionfish book.
Efforts are underway in many coastal regions of Florida to reduce the lionfish population through lionfish rodeos and derbies in which spear fishers dive and spear the animals in their habitat. REEF, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, has been hosting annual lionfish derbies for over ten years. Currently the REEF Lionfish Series Championships in Florida include an annual winter lionfish derby in Key Largo and summer series in Fort Lauderdale and Sarasota. The Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium currently hosts an annual lionfish culinary competition. Additionally, there is an annual Palm Beach County Lionfish Derby and Festival as well as the Annual Upper Keys Lionfish Derby and Festival Series Finale. I have witnessed the mayhem and joy of the competing diver teams coming back in late afternoon, their ice chests brimming with writhing lionfish. Whoever catches the largest, the smallest,