- The Mediterranean Sea is home to more than 750 exotic species. Some have adverse ecological effects, like lionfish and blue crabs, but are also edible and even tasty.
- Observers often argue that eating invasive marine species is the best way to deal with them, but some scientists warn that this doesn’t always offer a straightforward solution.
- Setting up targeted fisheries to control marine invaders involves balancing many considerations: fishers’ interests, markets, government policy and conservation.
- Even so, harvesting and serving marine invasive species has immense power to raise awareness about them.
Although the Atlantic blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) was uncommon in this part of the world until a few years ago, diners take to them easily: Their flesh is sweet, succulent and mellow. They have been on the restaurant’s menu since 2019, when Pavan and Brutto decided to ditch meat for ethical and environmental reasons.
Apart from the blue crab, the chef duo has also introduced rapa whelk (Rapana venosa) and other invasive marine species that have been messing up local ecosystems and fisheries. This year, for instance, they will be serving a dish based on the nonnative arc clam (genus Anadara) that has been spreading along the Adriatic coast.
“I’ve been here for seven years and in these seven years I’ve witnessed the population trends of the fish inhabiting the lagoon,” Pavan tells Mongabay, explaining the idea shaping her cooking. She likes to experiment with species that people are not familiar with but are locally abundant. “The blue crab is a real pest in this area,” she says. “It’s at the top of the food chain. So … it should be eaten to rebalance things.”
Can we control marine invaders by eating them?