What if you could help save an entire ecosystem just by making dinner? It sounds like a stretch, but that's exactly what one family in Hawaiʻi is doing. The main ingredient is an invasive fish that doesn't belong in local waters.
A recent YouTube video shows a family preparing a fish called Ta'ape. As a child helps scale the catch, the host explains why it's important to take as many as they can. They aren't from Hawaiʻi, and they "eat all the fish that are supposed to live there."
The problem is bigger than just one fish. According to Hawaiʻi's Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Ta'ape was intentionally brought to the islands from French Polynesia in 1955. With no natural predators, the species has since exploded in population, threatening the native fish that are essential to the health of Hawaiʻi's coral reefs.
The family in the video has a simple and delicious solution: fry it up. After cooking, they dress the fish with sauces and spices, turning an ecological threat into a tasty meal.
Their success was a hit with viewers.
One commenter wrote, "Taape with butter ..soo good! Yummy."
This idea of "eating the invasion" is a powerful tool for communities everywhere. In Oklahoma, the state is paying a cash bounty for invasive black carp to protect the Mississippi River basin.
It's a global effort, too. Officials in the Philippines are encouraging people to eat invasive Midas cichlids that have taken over a local lake. Sometimes nature even joins the fight, as one endangered cod in Australia has developed a taste for invasive tilapia.
Conservation starts at home. From a family dinner in Hawaiʻi to a government program in the Midwest, people are finding that taking care of the environment can be creative, empowering, and even delicious.
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