Lionfish photo by Jens Petersen

Steps are finally being taken to help get rid of the invasive lionfish, but not the steps that you would think. TCI restaurants are going to be putting lionfish on their menus, to help cull them from the TCI waters. It actually wasn’t the restaurants’ idea, the staff at the department of Environment and Coastal Resources proposed the delicious scheme.

The first restaurant to put the lionfish on the grill was Mother’s Pizza in Downtown Providenciales, whipping up a unique lionfish pizza.

Justin Bates, of Mother’s Pizza, has said that he was behind the effort 100%, and that it’s about time something was done about the invasive species.

He stated that seafood is very affordable, tastes good, and there is no limit to the number of ways you can prepare it. He hopes that by having the unique lionfish pizza on the menu it will encourage other restaurants to start serving up the fish.

On Monday, the director of the Department for Environment and Coastal Resources, Wesley Clerveaux, spoke out about their “Wanted Dead or Alive” lionfish campaign. Wesley has said that he was ecstatic to see the fish on the menus of the local restaurant, and is encouraging people to try the different dishes they come up with.

He went on to say that it is a common mistake people make to think that the lionfish is poisonous. It is actually only the fins which are hazardous to the health, the rest of the meat is perfectly safe to eat.