EATING INVASIVE SPECIES: Chefs seek to put iguana on menu.

Hey, it worked with lionfish.

CAYMAN LIONFISH REPORT: I’ve talked about eating invasive species before, and it seems to be working. I tried to get lionfish at a couple of places that had them on the menu, but they were out. Our waitress at the Saltwater Grille told me that they’ve been hunted to the point that they’ve become downright scarce. There’s one restaurant that always has them, but it’s way on the East End. I only saw a couple on the whole trip, and they were hiding out in swim-throughs and tunnels. Word is that they’re more plentiful when you get down below recreational-diver depths, but this still means that the better parts of the reef ecosystem are being protected.

I BLAME “CLIMATE CHANGE:” Debris from 2011 tsunami carried invasive species to North America.

MANY INVASIVE SPECIES ARE DELICIOUS: Rounding Up Canada Geese To Feed The Homeless.

GOOD IDEA: Eat an Invasive Species for Dinner: To control the spread of lionfish, ecologists and chefs are trying to make it a mainstream meal option.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

ANOTHER CALL TO EAT INVASIVE SPECIES.

I’m on board with that! Though as far as I’m concerned, all meat is guilt-free meat.

And here’s a followup.

SCREW IT, I’M STILL EATING LIONFISH: Is Concern About “Invasive Species” Racist?

MORE ON ELIMINATING INVASIVE SPECIES BY EATING THEM.

EATING INVASIVE SPECIES: Houston Restaurant Offers Lionfish. “Four bar seats face the area where Gaston prepares a variety of internationally themed delicacies, from sashimi to ceviche, crudo, mana, steak tartare, and the lionfish dish, Poisson Cru. He places a sizeable fillet on the board, deftly slices it into strips and lays them out on a dish. He mixes coconut milk with ginger and chiles in a bowl, pours it over the fish and adds morsels of fresh orange and olive oil. I enjoy it with a gimlet made with Tito’s Ruby Red vodka, an excellent complement to the flavors. Cove Bar also serves a list of wines by the glass and bottle, a selection of draught and bottle beers and daily drink specials. Downing my plate of lionfish, I’ve not only enjoyed a delicious appetizer; I’ve done a good deed, as well.”

All is proceeding as I have foreseen.

INVASIVE SPECIES UPDATE: Lionfish Beyond Reach of Divers Worry Researchers. This is consistent with what I heard when I was on Cayman last — they’re getting scarce down to 100 feet or so, but remain quite common below that. Tech divers, of course, can go considerably deeper, but there aren’t enough of them to deplete the lionfish population.

IN POPULAR MECHANICS, A LIONFISH REPORT FROM CAYMAN: Yes, You Can Fight Invasive Species by Eating Them. (Bumped).

IN POPULAR MECHANICS, A LIONFISH REPORT FROM CAYMAN: Yes, You Can Fight Invasive Species by Eating Them.

MORE DELICIOUS INVASIVE SPECIES: Elks Make a Dangerous Comeback in Germany. “European elks are using their impressive swimming skills to cross the Oder River from Poland into Germany in search of new territory. But the long-legged giants, which can weigh up to 800 kilograms, are finding their ancient trails broken by busy roads. A motorist killed one on a highway near Berlin this weekend.”

CHANGE: Commercial Fishing Returns to Lake Tahoe, to Combat an Invasive Species.

WHAT COULD BE YUMMIER? Python for dinner? 3 top local chefs to cook invasive species.

I approve of this approach.

INVASIVE SPECIES UPDATE: Invasive species ride tsunami debris to US shore. “This is like arrows shot into the dark. Some of them could hit a mark.”

Let’s just hope that they’re delicious.

MY LATEST FOR POPULAR MECHANICS: FIVE INVASIVE SPECIES YOU SHOULD BE EATING.

EATING INVASIVE SPECIES: Making Chorizo Sausage With Asian Carp. “For the record, the Asian carp chorizo sausage that Liceaga cooked up this week had no fishy taste or bony texture — at least none that this reporter could detect.”

MY POPULAR MECHANICS COLUMN: Invasive Species Problem? Just Eat ‘Em! (Bumped).

EATING INVASIVE SPECIES: Recipes For Nutria And Feral Pigs.

EATING INVASIVE SPECIES (CONT’D): Maryland Chefs Want To Put Snakeheads On The Menu.

Chef Chad Wells of Alewife restaurant tossed chunks of raw snakehead fish with cilantro and citrus to make something more ambitious than an $8 ceviche appetizer. It was an invasive-species eradication plan in a martini glass.

Wells wants the Asian interloper, which has settled with alarming ease into Chesapeake-area rivers, streams and perhaps the bay itself, to find a new home on restaurant menus. The chef is confident that once diners get a taste of snakehead, they can be counted on to do what they’ve always done with toothsome fish: wipe them out.

“We’ve proved time and again, the best way to destroy something is get humans involved,” Wells said.

Right now, the people most bent on reeling in snakeheads are chefs, who think serving invasive species could represent an important new twist on the sustainable seafood movement. Some of the biggest names in regional restaurants — “Top Chef” rivals Bryan Voltaggio and Mike Isabella, Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen, Scott Drewno of Washington’s The Source by Wolfgang Puck — are trying to get their hands on the fish so they can slice, dice and pan sear the thing into oblivion.

“We’ve been doing the complete opposite and focusing on conserving species,” said Voltaggio, owner of Volt restaurant in Frederick. “Here’s a fish you can feel good about depleting.”

This approach is the topic of my next Popular Mechanics column.

MORE ON EATING INVASIVE SPECIES. They can be delicious!

“WE ATE INVASIVE SPECIES, AND WE LIKED IT!” My next Popular Mechanics column will be on this topic.

INVASIVE SPECIES in the Mediterranean.

A WHILE BACK I WROTE ABOUT EATING INVASIVE SPECIES, and while I was on Cayman last week I went along on a number of lionfish hunts at depths of between 30-100 feet with Nat Robb and Art Hintze of InDepth Watersports, and had some delicious lionfish sushi prepared carpaccio-style with lime juice, olive oil, and capers right on the boat. It was delicious.

UPDATE: Yes, that’s a Rearden Steel t-shirt I’m wearing.