Elephants in an area infested by the invasive sickle bush. The Uganda Wildlife Authority fears that the management of the shrub could be a challenge as the plants rapidly colonise grasslands in the Queen Elizabeth National Park, the country's most diverse park. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

By Wambi Michael
KASESE, Uganda, Jun 12 2019 (IPS)

As climate change leads to increased temperatures in East Africa, a thicket of invasive thorny trees with the ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions have begun threatening Uganda’s second-largest park, home to a rare breed of tree climbing lions and one of the highest concentrations of primates in the world.

The Queen Elizabeth National Park forms part of the Greater Virunga Landscape, considered the richest part of the African continent in terms of vertebrate species. The park is Uganda’s most diverse and boasts 5,000 species of mammals, including: 27 primates such as chimpanzees, red-tailed and monkeys, and baboons; birds; amphibians; reptiles; hippos and elephants.

But conservation experts at the Queen Elizabeth National Park are fighting to stop the spread of Dichrostachys cinerea, commonly known as sickle bush.

There is a fear that the further spread of of the shrub, which has a long tap root and various lateral roots that make it difficult to remove, could further place at risk the already endangered species that exist here. A recent  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report found that there is massive loss of biodiversity globally that could “undermine human well-being for current and future generations,” according to Sir Robert Watson, the outgoing chair of the IPBES.

Though not new to the country or the region, the invasive plant, which is native to South Africa and known for its medicinal uses, has begun spreading rapidly across the park, taking up in recent years an estimated 40 percent of the almost 2,000 square kilometres that the park covers.

Edward Asalu, the chief warden here, told IPS that the spread of these thickets was affecting animal settlements in this ecologically diverse part of the country.

“This issue is being studied but we know that it is largely linked to climate change,” he said, alluding to the increased temperatures in the country. He added that higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also contributed to the fast spread of the sickle bush.

According to a climate risk assessment report on the country by the Climate and Development Learning Platform, which aims to integrate climate change into development programming, “climate projections developed for Uganda … indicate an increase in near-surface temperature for the country in the order of +2°C in the next 50 years, and in the order of +2.5°C in the next 80 years.”

Robert Adaruku is a tour guide with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and has noted that increased temperatures have affected the growth of the sickle bush.

“As the temperature goes high, such kinds of plants like the sickle bush are able to survive in a hotter environment are able to expand. Because the weather or environment will be favouring their expansion,” he told IPS.

The sickle bush and its recent rapid growth due to increased temperatures has led it to become the latest threat to Uganda’s wildlife conservation efforts. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

Thicket drives away animals
The spread of the sickle bush is evident as one drives along the road overlooking the Kazinga Channel, a 32 kilometre stretch of water that joins Lake George and Lake Edward. The channel has previously been considered the ideal spot to view game.

A lonely male elephant is spotted in the early afternoon under a thicket of sickle bush. There is no grass underfoot.

Asalu told IPS the thickets were not easily penetrated by most animals and that “grazers like antelopes, warthogs and buffalos are avoiding those thickets because they can’t find food under there.”

“We have areas which were grasslands but are now being taken over by thickets. Animals, especially the herbivores, like open areas where they can be able to see the carnivores trying to eat them. That is why you cannot find them in area colonised by the sickle bush,” Asalu explained.

Adaruku explained that he first noticed the sickle bush in the park way back in 1997. “The sickle plants were there but on a very small scale. As time goes on it has been able to expand and colonise this area.”

Sickle bush spreading rapidly across Africa and beyond

But it is just not this park that the sickle bush is taking over. Asalu confirmed that Tanzania’s Randilen Wildlife Management Area also recently had to deal with the spread of the sickle bush.

Quoting a study by the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), a non-profit inter-governmental development and information organisation, Asalu said that Dichrostachys cinerea spreads very fast because it can produce up to 130 shoots from the mother stem.

Studies from West Africa have found that the sickle bush is mostly found in warm, dry savannahs but it can grow in more than three climate groups.

CABI said the subspecies spreading in East Africa is thought to have originated in countries such as Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa and is spreading all over the world.

“Dichrostachys cinerea has a high reproductive rate, meaning that they produce many seeds throughout the year. Although not all offspring are successful, the plants that do establish themselves can typically expect a long lifespan due to their tolerance to natural disturbances like fire, drought and pests,” reads part of a 2017 report by CABI.

It added that the ability by the sickle bush to prosper on nutrient-poor soils and disturbed areas made it very adaptive and resilient in its native region of South Africa.

A 2017 study in the journal Nature Communications found that alien invasive species, like the sickle bush, have the ability to expand rapidly at higher latitudes and altitudes as the climate warms, out-pacing native species. The park is estimated to be 914m above sea level, while Uganda is about 140 kms above the equator.

Geofrey Baluku is a part-time tour operator around Kilembe and Kasese, the areas alongside the Queen Elizabeth National Park. He is also concerned about the spread of the sickle bush.

“It is a serious problem. What will happen to this park if all the animals go away?” Baluku said in an interview with IPS.

He told IPS that the sickle bush is not entirely new to the area but the rate at which it is expanding was.
“We have used those same plants to treat some diseases. It is very good soothing to tooth ache.
“But …even elephants don’t eat their leaves. Other small animals don’t want to stay in areas colonised by sickle bush so they move to other areas, including where there are human settlements,” Baluku said.

Uganda Wildlife Authority wardens at one of the areas formerly colonised by the sickle bush. The authority has undertaken restoration efforts since July to clear the Queen Elizabeth National Park of the shrub. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

A problematic plant

Dr Peter Baine, a research officer at Uganda’s invasive species research unit, told IPS that the sickle bush forms a canopy in a colonised area, releasing chemicals that kill the grass underneath.

“It is quite problematic to other plants because of its ability to spread fast, grow fast, disperse numerous seeds, and the seed’s ability to last in soil up until a year,” he said.

Baine did not rule out the fact that its rapid spread could be linked to climate change. He told IPS that invasive species and climate change are two of the primary factors that alter ecological systems.

He said the National Agricultural Research Organisation and UWA were conducting studies to understand the interaction between climate change and the sickle bush for a possible management plan to fight the problem.

Restoration Effort

The UWA has in the past burnt the sickle bush but discovered that the tree would sprout again after a few weeks.

Since July, the authority has embarked on a new restoration effort, involving the uprooting and burning of the plants in colonised areas.

About six hundred hectares of sickle bush had been uprooted by May when IPS visited the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Asalu told IPS that there remains a huge challenge ahead because uprooting and burning the sickle bush requires huge financial resources that are not readily available.

But in the meantime the current efforts for eradication are making a difference. IPS saw a number of animals, including buffalo and bushbucks (African antelopes), in parts of the restored area.

*Writing with Nalisha Adams in Johannesburg

Saint Lucia’s best known species is the gorgeous but endangered Amazon parrot. Credit: Steve Wilson/cc by 2.0

By Desmond Brown
PYEONGCHANG, Republic of Korea, Oct 14 2014 (IPS)

The remarkable biodiversity of the countries of the Caribbean, already under stress from human impacts like land use, pollution, invasive species, and over-harvesting of commercially valuable species, now faces an additional threat from climate change.

On the sidelines of the 12th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 12) being held here from Oct. 6-17, Saint Lucia’s Biodiversity Coordinator Terrence Gilliard told IPS that his government understands that biodiversity and ecosystem services underpin sustainable development."Our biodiversity is important for our health, our status, our attractiveness as a country and it is important that we conserve it and use it in a sustainable manner that it is there for generations to come." -- Helena Brown

But he said climate change is having an impact on biodiversity of the island nation.

“There have been reports of coral bleaching occasioned by higher sea temperatures and there has been a lengthening in the productive season of some agricultural crops,” said Gilliard, who also serves as sustainable development and environment officer.

“The extreme weather events such as Hurricane Tomas [in 2010] and the [2013] Christmas Eve trough resulted in major landslides within forested areas and there is…loss of animal life during these events. Long periods of droughts limit water availability and affect agricultural production.”

Though less than 616 square kms in area, Saint Lucia is exceptionally rich in animals and plants. More than 200 species occur nowhere else, including seven percent of the resident birds and an incredible 53 percent of the reptiles.

The nation’s best known species is the gorgeous but endangered Saint Lucia amazon parrot. Other species of conservation concern include the pencil cedar, staghorn coral and Saint Lucia racer. The racer, confined to the 12-hectare Maria Major Island, is arguably the world’s most threatened snake following recent increases in numbers of its distant relative in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Antiguan racer, a small, harmless, lizard-eating snake, was once widespread throughout Antigua, but became almost extinct early this century, hunted relentlessly by predators such as mongooses and rats. As of 2013, the population size was 1,020.

Helena Brown, technical coordinator in the Environment Division of the Ministry of Health and the Environment, said there are at least two conservation programmes in Antigua where the racer and another critically endangered species, the hawksbill turtle, are being conserved.

“There is a lot of work being done there but that’s just two species out of many. Our biodiversity is important for our health, our status, our attractiveness as a country and it is important that we conserve it and use it in a sustainable manner that it is there for generations to come,” Brown told IPS.

According to Jamaica’s National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), ecosystems on that island most vulnerable to climate change impacts include coral reefs, highland forests, and coastal wetlands (mangroves).

With more than 8,000 species recorded, Jamaica is ranked fifth globally for endemic species. The Caribbean island has 98.2 percent of the 514 indigenous species of land snails and 100 percent of the 22 indigenous species of amphibians.

Jamaica’s rich marine species diversity include species of fish, sea anemones, black and stony corals, mollusks, turtles, whales, dolphin, and manatee. In addition, nearly 30.1 percent of the country is covered with forests and there are 10 hydrological basins containing over 100 streams and rivers, in addition to several subterranean waterways, ponds, springs, and blue holes.

For Saint Kitts and Nevis, where biodiversity is described as “very important to sustainable development,” the effects of climate change are not highly visible at this point.

“More time will be needed to observe some of the subtle changes that are observed. For instance, in some cases there seems to be longer periods of drought which are impacting on the natural cycles of some plants and also on agricultural crops,” the director of Physical Planning and Environment in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Randolph Edmead, told IPS.

“The rainy season appears to be getting shorter and when there is rain the episodes are more intense thus leading to flash floods.”

Saint Kitts and Nevis is pursuing tourism development as its main economic activity, and many of the country’s tourism-related activities and attractions are based on biodiversity. These include marine biodiversity where coral reefs represent an important component.

Edmead said coral reefs also support fisheries which is an important source of food.

“The income generated from these activities not only supports development but also is important for sustaining livelihoods,” he explained.

Forest biodiversity also forms an important part of the tourism product of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Ecotourism activities which are based on organised hikes along established trails are engaged in regularly by tourists.

“Biodiversity also helps to protect soils from erosion which is not only important for agriculture but also in the protection of vital infrastructure,” he added.

Executive Director of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias told IPS climate change is a main threat to biodiversity and he urged progress at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP scheduled for Dec. 1-12 in Peru.

Executive Director of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

“The threats to biodiversity continue. But where do these threats come from? They come from public policies, corporate policies and other factors that come from the socio-economic sector. These are population increase, consumption increase, more pollution, climate change. These are some of the big drivers of loss of biodiversity,” said de Souza Dias.

“So unless we see progress in the negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then the loss of biodiversity will probably continue.”

But de Souza Dias is also putting forward biodiversity as part of the solution to the climate change problem. He suggested that better management of forests, wetlands, mangroves and other systems can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“We can also enhance adaptation because adaptation is not just about building walls to avoid the sea level rise impacting coastal zones. It is about having more resilient ecosystems that can resist more the different scenarios of climate change,” he told IPS.

“We need to conserve better the ecosystems in our landscape…having more diverse landscape with some forest, some wetlands, some protected catchment areas. Currently we are moving to more simplified landscapes, just big monocultures of crops, large cities, so we are going in the wrong direction.”

Edited by Kitty Stapp

The writer can be contacted at destinydlb@gmail.com

Biologist Juliana Cárdenas gathers samples of the invasive species West Indian foxtail along the road between the towns of Orocué and Yopal, in the Colombian department of Casanare,.during the Travesía Humboldt. Credit: Constanza Vieira/IPS

By Constanza Vieira
OROCUÉ, Colombia , Jun 21 2013 (IPS)

Along the unpaved road between the town of Orocué and the Wisirare private reserve in the eastern Colombian department of Casanare, biologist Juliana Cárdenas asks the driver to stop the bus so she can collect a specimen of West Indian foxtail, a kind of grass growing along the road.

“I would like to confirm that this Poaceae (grass family) is an introduced species. And if it is, it might be an invasive species, because we’ve seen it all along the road,” she told IPS. “But if it is a native species, then it is simply the most abundant species in this savannah plant community.”

In 2012, IPS saw similar plants in a nature reserve in the Venezuelan state of Táchira. “In that case, this would be a widely distributed species, shared by the two (neighbouring) countries. Or it’s an invasive species that is also found in Venezuela,” Cárdenas responds.

The young biologist is a researcher on invasive species in the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, a private-public institution dedicated to biodiversity that forms part of the National Environmental System, linked to the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development.

The conversation occurred during the first stage of the Travesía Humboldt along the Meta river, which took place Jun. 14-20.

The trip covered parts of the departments (provinces) of Meta and Casanare – where Orocué is located – and was the first of a number of journeys planned for this year and next as “a formal part of the process of land-use regulation in the Orinoco river basin,” Humboldt Institute director Brigitte Baptiste said when welcoming the participants on the Travesía or journey, including IPS.

The Orinoquia region gives its name to the valley of the Orinoco river, the world’s third largest in terms of water volume, after the Amazon and Congo rivers. The Orinoco is 2,140 km long and the basin covers 991,587 sq km, 35 percent of which is in Colombia and the rest in Venezuela.

Colombia’s Orinoquia region, also known as the Llanos Orientales or Eastern Plains, covers 301,443 sq km, equivalent to just over 30 percent of the country’s mainland territory.

The Meta river, 804 km long with a 93,800-sq-km basin, is the largest Colombian tributary of the Orinoco, which is born in the southern Venezuelan state of Amazonas and forms a natural border with Colombia before running across Venezuela horizontally until flowing into the Atlantic ocean.

The first stage of the Travesía set out from the bustling, chaotic oil port city of Puerto Gaitán in the department of Meta, on the Manacacías river, eight km from the point where it runs into the Meta river and 105 km by boat upstream from Orocué.

The Travesía’s chief objective is to document the current state of Colombia’s Orinoquia region, which is what Cárdenas is helping to do. “A biological invasion is not always obvious. It is not always seen as such,” she said.

“As a precaution,” she said, “specimens are collected of many introduced species of plants that are already classified as highly invasive species by other countries.” The largest number of specimens comes from plants from the grass family.

Cárdenas took photos of the collected specimens while her colleague Lina Vásquez marked the exact location by GPS.

They later placed the specimens in newspaper with alcohol to preserve them. After they return to Bogotá, the specimens will be dried in a special oven, then classified.

“We usually don’t find flowering specimens, and that makes taxonomic classification more difficult,” Cárdenas said. “That is why we generally consult a specialist in this family, because the Poaceae are a large group.”

The first thing the scientists do is check a list of native species, to rule out that possibility, she explained.

“Invasive species normally appear in areas that have been modified or degraded, such as roadsides or ploughed fields. Vehicles and people are carriers of invasive species. You often carry seeds on your pants, for example,” Cárdenas said.

An invasive species is an organism – plant, animal, fungus or bacterium – that is not native and has negative effects on the economy or environment. Invasive species of plants and animals are the second greatest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss.

In Colombia, the third biggest threat is overexploitation of biological resources; the fourth is pollution; and the fifth is climate change, according to the Environment Ministry.

Indirect causes are the expansion of the agricultural frontier, lack of awareness of the strategic potential of biodiversity, and illicit drug crops, the ministry says.

Invasive species displace native species, “which changes the original structure of ecosystems,” Cárdenas said.

“This has a social and cultural impact, because the species that people originally depended on for a living change,” she said.

In the biodiverse, multicultural Orinoquia region, which has a decades-old tradition of cattle ranching that is gradually being displaced by monoculture agribusiness and oil drilling, the main biological invasion occurred as a result of introduced grass species, which shoved out native species.

But it was followed by other invasions, such as the introduction of African oil palm, which is already classified in other countries as an invasive species.

Colombia is the largest producer of palm oil in Latin America and the fifth largest in the world. And the Orinoquia region accounts for 30 percent of national production.

In 2012, the Environment Ministry’s National Plan for the Prevention, Control and Management of Introduced, Transplanted and Invasive Species documented 298 introduced and transplanted species of fauna and flora and 43 species of flora with a high risk of invasion.

But the list is far from complete, said Orlando Vargas, director of the Ecological Restoration Group in the National University of Colombia’s Biology Department, because with the exception of Amazonia, “there has been no research carried out by region.”

He also told IPS that in Colombia there is a tendency to always start over “from scratch.”

The expert said West Indian foxtail (Andropogon bicornis) “is the worst invasive species in the entire Orinoquia region. It is a species of grass that withstands grazing, slash-and-burn, flooding or drought.

“Although the species is native to the Americas, it has spread all over, and is invading many areas that do not flood, and pastures, throughout nearly the entire country. But these are things that have not yet been documented,” he lamented.

Mimosa pigra, a tropical invasive bush, along the Pinar del Río lake. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

By Ivet González
HAVANA, Apr 11 2013 (IPS)

Botanist Ramona Oviedo has spent decades combing the countryside in Cuba to study and curb the spread of invasive plant species, a serious problem that has been aggravated by climate change.

Global warming “can worsen the impact of invasive plant species, which are more resistant than Cuba’s native flora,” Oviedo, a researcher at the Ecology and Systematics Institute (IES), said in an interview with IPS.

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines invasive alien species as “animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms entered and established in the environment from outside of their natural habitat (that) reproduce rapidly, out-compete native species for food, water and space, and are one of the main causes of global biodiversity loss.”

These biological invasions are the result of globalisation, which has boosted travel and international trade, and of the intentional introduction of alien species for purposes such as fish farming, the pet trade, horticulture and biological control (as biocontrol agents).

The spread of invasive alien species has become a major driver of species loss, second only to ecosystem degradation.

There are 323 invasive plant species in Cuba that colonise natural and agricultural environments, displace native plants and cause imbalances that are costly for the environment and the economy. And another 232 alien plant species present in the island could potentially be placed in that category.

Local effects of climate change such as rising temperatures and increasingly frequent droughts threaten native vegetation, which could be replaced by highly-resistant alien species with a high reproduction rate, Oviedo told IPS. Hurricane-prone areas could face a similar fate.

In the second half of the 20th century, Cuba’s mean annual air temperature rose 0.5 degrees Celsius, according to “The Caribbean and Climate Change. The Costs of Inaction”, a report published in May 2008 by researchers at Tufts University in Boston. Local projections estimate that by 2100 it will have increased by 1.6 to 2.5 degrees.

Seven severe hurricanes hit Cuba between 2001 and 2011. Such a high number of intense hurricanes in one decade had not been registered since 1791. Droughts have intensified and become more frequent, with the most severe drought on record to date lasting from May 2003 to April 2005 and affecting the entire country.

These disturbances associated with global warming occur in ecosystems that have been “weakened, fragmented and altered” by centuries of agricultural development and urbanisation, Oviedo noted. And as more and more native species are affected, the possibilities for the spread of invasive species grow, she said.

Cuba, like many islands, has a large proportion of endemic plant species – that is, plants that are unique to the island, and which must be preserved.

But for an economy such as Cuba’s, managing these invasive species is a challenge, the expert said. Many of these plants grow on arable land, making agriculture impossible, or they block or contaminate waterways.

Sicklebush (Dichrostachys cinerea), or “marabú” as it is known in Cuba, is a tree native to Africa found extensively throughout the island. It started to spread in the late 19th century, after it was brought to the Caribbean region, possibly as an ornamental tree or botanical novelty or in cattle that ingested the seeds and bypassed the mandatory quarantine.

In fact, all of the idle state lands distributed for use among farmers from 2008 to June 2012 (more than 1.5 million hectares) were infested to some extent with marabú trees and weeds. The farmers who were granted usufruct rights over these plots had to clear them with machetes before they could plant crops.

Marabú trees also cover much of the nearly one million hectares still pending distribution.

But trees and plants like these are not entirely “undesireable,” Yoan Sarduy, an agriculture ministry delegate stationed in the province of Cienfuegos, 232 kilometres southeast of Havana, argued. Marabú trees, for example, improve soil, and farmers in that province harvest the wood to make furniture and charcoal, she told IPS.

Apart from marabú, the alien plant species that most affect this Caribbean island nation are: Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia), known in Cuba as casuarina; ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala); rose apple (Syzygium jambos), or pomarrosa in Cuba; and sweet acacia or aroma (Acacia farnesiana). In addition, water hyacinth (Eichhornia azurea) and green foxtail or cutleaf watermilfoil (Myriophyllum pinnatum) are two aquatic alien species that have a damaging impact on river and lake ecosystems.

Invasive plant species are a problem throughout Latin America. Chile reports 1,500 alien species, Costa Rica 238, and Mexico 665, while Guatemala and the Dominican Republic have 595 and 59 respectively, according to different sources.

The IES recommends eliminating invasive populations by rooting out the plants by hand or through mechanical means and taking precautions to prevent them from spreading again. It is an arduous method, but safer and more cost-efficient than applying herbicides or introducing biocontrol agents.

It also recommends making use of the plants to produce organic fertiliser or animal feed, generate biogas, make crafts or create water gardens.

As it is impossible to eliminate them completely, “people should learn to identify these species and use them to their benefit,” Dalia Salabarría, a researcher with the Cuban Environmental Agency, told IPS in a telephone interview.

Salabarría heads up an effort to create a nationwide information system to manage 13 plant species and 14 animal species, monitor their impact and implement early warning and detection measures. The programme will be implemented with U.N. funding through 2017.

The experts say local residents must play a leading role in the detection, control and management of invasive plant species.

The IES is carrying out an initiative called Environmental Pioneers, aimed at educating children from around downtown Havana on these and other issues.

More than 1,500 children have taken part in the programme since 1998. Talía Rodríguez, now 13, learned how to map out the natural resources found in her area. “We also know how to identify certain invasive plants so that we can alert adults if we see them when we’re exploring,” she said.

Lionfish specimen in Jamaican waters. Credit: Zadie Neufville/IPS

By Desmond Brown
ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, Jul 25 2012 (IPS)

In a case of “if you can’t beat them, eat them,” Caribbean countries have embarked on a new strategy to deal with the invasive lionfish, whose voracious appetite is wiping out fish stocks from Bermuda to Barbados in what scientists believe to be the worst marine invasion in history.

Regional authorities are promoting a rather unusual solution – incorporate this “beautiful menace” into their diet.

Matt Strong, who heads the Bermuda-based environmental charity, Groundswell believes that a solution to the problem would be to incorporate lionfish into local menus and have it targeted by commercial and recreational fishermen.

“We can essentially eat them to reduce their numbers. It’s worked before — we ate the Nassau grouper in such large numbers that they no longer exist in Bermuda’s waters,” Strong said.

“Every time you are at a restaurant, grocery store or buying fish from your roadside fisherman, ask for lionfish. If we build up enough demand, the fishermen will target them,” he urged islanders.

The environment official noted that every day, authorities are getting more and more reports of lionfish on the country’s reefs.

“They are in great numbers on our deeper reef and now they are showing up inshore in the fish nursery grounds and relentlessly eating our juvenile fish,” Strong said.

“Lionfish are eating important commercial species but even more importantly, they could potentially decimate the herbivorous fish populations such as parrotfish. This is a huge problem as the herbivores keep the algae in check. Without them, the algae outcompetes the corals and the reef, as we know it, dies.”

The lionfish explosion occurred in Bahamian waters in 2010 and was described then as “a plague of biblical proportions stalking the Bahamian economy”.

Today, 97 percent of the reef fish endemic to the Bahamas have been eaten.

In 2011, the country created an annual bash to raise awareness about the lionfish. The family event, which was held Jul. 13-15 this year, saw a total of 345 lionfish being caught.

A similar event held in Dominica in July each year – the annual Dive Festival – organised by the Dominica Watersports Association, was used to appeal to citizens to assist in controlling the lionfish.

The theme for the 2012 festival was “Save the reef; eat a lionfish.”

The association’s president Simon Walsh said the festival this year “reflected that although this is a species that needs to be controlled in order to protect the dive sector and coastal fisheries, it is looked at as a sustainable food source”.

British Marine Biologist Arun Madisetti is on a mission to encourage the people of the Caribbean to put the lionfish to their diet.

“These things have no natural predator in our region,” he told IPS.

“We are never ever going to win this war, we can take on certain battles and control certain reefs but it’s a problem that is not going to go away.”

Madisetti, who now resides in Dominica (which saw its first lionfish in December 2010), was on a visit to Antigua at the invitation of the local Environmental Awareness Group to give a lecture on the lionfish.

Already, at least one player in the dive industry in Antigua has begun promoting the idea of eating the troublesome lionfish in a bid to control its fast growing population.

“We should encourage the community to eat them because they taste really good,” said Shawn Clarke, who runs a recreation dive business here.

Clarke and others who make their living from marine resources say the lionfish population has drastically increased since being first spotted here early last year.

In recent times there has been concern about the fish’s venomous nature and Clarke believe this is what has kept it from most dinner plates.

But he said “they are free of fish poisoning when prepared. Once you have people hunting and wanting to eat them we don’t have to worry about it so much because we want to get rid of them.

“If fishermen go out there and they know people are buying them they will catch them. If you don’t catch them in the next 20 years, all there will be is lionfish.”

The lionfish, which is native to the Pacific Ocean, is believed to have entered Atlantic and Caribbean waters during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when a Florida aquarium broke. They rapidly consume small fishes on coral reefs and can produce up to 30,000 eggs every four days.

The lionfish’s arrival has sent shock waves of fear among members of the marine community in Barbados.

To date, six of the voracious feeders have been killed by divers or caught by fishermen.

“As part of our public awareness campaign, we have roped in the divers and the dive association and all the dive shops because, frankly, they are the ones that are out there the most,” said marine biologist Caroline Bissada-Gooding, whose company East Coast Conservation Organization Inc. runs the Lionfish Barbados Hotline.

“It’s in their own interest to get involved because as the lionfish population grows, the reef fish communities will shrink and that’s their livelihood at stake, so it’s really up to the divers, dive shops and fishermen to get involved.”

She said the island’s lionfish population is still small and those caught are being collected by members of the Lionfish hotline and taken to the Fisheries Division to be examined.

She too has assured the public that the lionfish are quite tasty, especially when prepared in a fillet.

“It’s very nice, like white meat, like a snapper. It’s not raw at all,” she said.

Madisetti said the lionfish invasion will impact the region’s fisheries and tourism industries and “something has to be done.”