The stunning waters off the island of Jamaica are threatened by invasive venomous lionfish. Fortunately for the coastal ecosystem, local fisherman and chefs have teamed up to eliminate the lionfish, one delicious fillet at a time.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00My grandfather was a fisherman, my dad, a fisherman, so it's in the blood, you know.
00:24I love doing it.
00:25It's way better than working for someone.
00:27You got no boss to watch over you, you know, tell you what to do, you know.
00:32You don't have a passion for it.
00:33Whether I catch a fish or not, I just love, love the ocean.
00:37It's one of the first things I know myself.
00:55When I was a little kid, I used to build a little boat gun.
00:59You know, my dad gave me a mask and stuff like that, so I used to jump off in the shallow,
01:04shoot the little shad and little jacks and stuff, snapper.
01:09Then I just take my little time in the reef, then from the reef to the high rock.
01:14Get deeper and deeper, you know.
01:17Over time I developed that technique for diving, you know.
01:21Sometimes I get a good catch.
01:23Sometimes three, four barracudas, red snapper, lobster.
01:27It's a long day of work, but I can provide for my family.
01:42Everybody kind of try to catch lionfish nowadays.
01:46You have some guys from the marine park tell us about it and how dangerous they are.
01:52The lionfish will start to take over the whole bottom, you know.
01:54You don't see much fish on the ground anymore, you know.
01:57When we go to sea, the guys always carry scissors, so we just cut the spines off.
02:02The lionfish juked me a few times already.
02:05That thing lasts long and it moves fast.
02:08As soon as it hits you, you start to feel the whole body, you feel it in your heart, man.
02:13But I'm like a suicide diver.
02:15You find a nice piece of reef and when you go out here, you see a whole bunch of lionfish.
02:19They're about to leave.
02:21So, we have to get rid of them.
02:23We can make a little money out of them still, but that's good.
02:42You know what this is?
02:43This one is the notorious lionfish.
02:45On the island here, since the public has been educating how to utilize these fish,
02:51a lot of the fishermen here are catching them.
02:53And we have started using lionfish a whole lot in our cuisine.
03:03Got a big boy here.
03:04Lionfish, it's a really nice, fleshy, great flavored fish.
03:09The only downside is there are some spines on it that have some venom, so you have to be very careful, really.
03:15But once you have dressed our fin fish, you're ready to go.
03:18It's basically safe after that.
03:22I think once we promote it more and we get it out there in the restaurant, we would be able to sustain it.
03:31Jerk lionfish bruschetta, and we're going to serve that with some fresh papaya chutney.
03:36Lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper, some ginger, onion, garlic, and of course, some fresh papaya.
03:52When you wake up this morning, you better give thanks.
03:55You don't know if you're going to live to see tomorrow.
04:00Life is much more precious than gold.
04:07The lionfish, it's very tasty.
04:09You cut up a little carrot, sweet pepper, onion, and stuff like that.
04:13A little piece of butter, some garlic, and a little piece of hot pepper.
04:17You just put it in a little water, put it on the cover and make it a simmer.
04:22And you're good to go.
04:23Probably a little bit of coconut powder to give it that flavor, that creamy sauce.
04:28You guys are making me hungry.
04:35I always know that I'm going to make a living out of the ocean because it's something that I have passion for.
04:39I love it.
04:40I get trapped up by barracuda.
04:42I get blackout a few times.
04:44It's a long day of work, but I still rather do it than working for some guys.
04:48Self-reliance.
04:50It's just me now and the Almighty.