 A growing number of conservationists are advocating the consumption of invasive species in an effort to fend off environmental destruction. Invasive species, as defined by the USDA’s National Agricultural Library, aren't native to the local ecosystem and may cause economic, environmental or medical harm. They can exist in many forms: plants, animals or even microorganisms. Many of the invasive plants, such as dandelion and purslane, were originally introduced by settlers for medicinal or ornamental reasons, while many of the invasive animals like Asian carp and green iguanas were brought in as food sources, pets or for pest control. From feral hogs running wild in Texas to lionfish eating their way through the Gulf of Mexico to kudzu, whose nickname “the vine that ate the South” speaks for itself, the United States is facing an invasion of the natural resource snatchers. While kudzu may have swallowed up the South, conservationists and food activists are encouraging American consumers to bite back. “Why not combine the growing locavore movement with an ecological awareness and try and reduce some of these species?” says Joe Roman, conservation biologist, author and editor of EatTheInvaders.org. “It’s unlikely we’re ever going to eat them to extinction but we can reduce the numbers that are there and also get an excellent meal.” Because these species typically won’t encounter natural predators, it’s primarily up to humans to control or remove the invaders. Some managerial methods involve mechanical control, like digging or mowing, or chemical control, like pesticides and herbicides. Or, people could eat them. There are, of course, major hurdles with upping the consumption of invasive species. For one, most could use an image overhaul. “Here in America, we’ve raised two generations of consumers to think that only luxury cut from the center of the animal is what we should eat,” says Andrew Zimmern, the host of “Bizarre Foods” on the Travel Channel. “And only from three or four animals, I might add.” Nutria, for example, is a giant water-born rodent – but many chefs compare the taste to that of a succulent rabbit. It’s all about consumer perception. “You start to stretch our food imagination, we can take it in sorts of great directions,” says Zimmern. “Think of a species that now shows up on menus that people wouldn’t have dreamed of eating maybe a decade or two ago. There is certainly an ‘ick factor’ we’re going to have to get over to promote this,” says Roman. Chef Bun Lai, at his restaurant Miya’s in New Haven, Connecticut, actively pursues this sort of rebranding. Miya’s offers an invasive species menu, with ingredients like European green crabs, lionfish, knotweed and wild swans, that threaten the local ecosystems. “We hope that this will do a few things. First of all, it could potentially curb the dominance of invasive species in the ecosystem. Secondly, it would provide the seafood industry a greater supply of native seafood and reduce the stresses on those populations already fished,” Lai explains on the restaurant’s website. “Finally, we hope that it would encourage greater balance in the inter-regenerative relationship between man and the oceans.” As with any strategy though, there are always risks. First, not all invasive species are safe for human consumption. Providing educational resources about how to prepare certain species (for lionfish, remove the poisonous spines) and what is and is not safe to forage is crucial. Secondly, marketing an invasive species could encourage less scrupulous entrepreneurs to move these species where they didn’t already exist because they are potentially lucrative, Roman says. That could easily backfire and spread the species’ destruction even further. Then, there are concerns of depleting the population, which Zimmern adds, wouldn’t be a bad thing because, after all, they’re not naturally supposed to be there. “Let’s get to the point where they’re extinct or nearly extinct and then they’re a manageable resource. Let’s farm them, let’s do other things with it, but we can’t just let these invasive species be out in the wild,” he says. Although population control is obviously at the forefront of the invasive species battle and consumer appeal is only part of the invasive solution, Zimmern says there is another opportunity: take them out of the ecosystem and find a way to feed hungry people. “The biggest problem with the invasive species argument - in terms of not eating them - is people are hungry, these are good foods,” he says. With protein’s high expense and one in six people living in hunger, Zimmern advocates in collecting invasive species and using that meat to feed children, seniors, people in the jail system and other people living below the poverty line. “I will tell you right now, as someone that’s had a bologna sandwich in jail, I would prefer to eat nutria every day of the week,” he says. Spaghetti and Periwinkles (Snails) About 2 cups of periwinkles in shells Wash the snails in cold water. Add periwinkles to a pot of boiling water, along with a small handful of salt to shrink and toughen the meat. (This eases their removal.) The snails are ready when the operculum falls off. Remove the periwinkles from their shells with a nutpick or pin. (This can be time consuming, find an assistant if you can.) Sauté garlic in olive oil. Add parsley and tomatoes, and cook for about 30 minutes. Boil four quarts of water. Add spaghetti, and remove when soft but still firm to the bite. At the same time that you add the spaghetti, add the periwinkles to the sauce. Mix the pasta and sauce in a warm bowl. Serve hot, with crusty Italian bread and grated Parmesan cheese. Watch CNN Newsroom weekdays 9am to 3pm ET and weekends. For the latest from the CNN Newsroom click here.
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The irony is that humans gave themselves the right to invade everywhere and consume everything, yet now they're "scared" and calling other creature "invading" because they are peacefully living their lives out there. What society is doing is punishing animals for the gift of life. If there really is a god, it stopped being perfect the day it ceated humans. Biggest mistake ever.
Future generations will be so ashamed.
Well, all self loathing aside, we do have a responsibility to help preserve our eco system. Some things we are good at, some things not so much. I think it was Saigon that had a MASSIVE rat infestation. The populace after trying to quell the flood, they decided to eat them. Good times had by all.....except the rats.
Also, I did notice that the whole Chinese Beetle thing is under control. I guess birds decided they were delicious.
hello another very nice post i really love reading your storys
This is a little ironic, considering that kudzu was originally imported as a cheap, fast-growing food source. And no, it hasn't "swallowed up the South." I pretty rarely see it outside of the times I've driven through the Gulf area.
Interesting idea. Now all that needs to happen is for locavore restaurants to pick it up. Can't quite see it on the casual entertaining front though.
jeesshh!! hell yeah, people should take advantage of this "surplus" food source. my gosh , people always joke about whats in Chinese food, they are always popular and are everywhere. somebody should get wise and whip up some little restaurant franchise of the sort.
Got a recipe for Japanese beetles?
Anyone know whats the Lionfishs favorite meal? Any particular favorite, say if two or three different species of food fish were avaiable which one would the Lionfish pick?
I love dandelion! Get it young and it is good in a salad. Or when it is a little bigger but not blooming boil it with water and olive oil and some garlic and it is like spinach! and dandelion wine!!!!!
Sounds good but there needs to be an incentive for people to eat lionfish. Maybe have a professional food reviewer give some idea on what type of lionfish foods are like in taste,texture,health, and etc. The taster giving us reason why it's a good idea to eat them. And compare them to other seafood in the category and claiming they are cheaper. I imagine since there isn't a high demand for lionfish and an abundance[high supply] that would mean a cheaper meal.
Maybe even a government sponsored chef on Food Network showing how to prepare lionfish so it can be eaten safely.
off-topic politics invade unrelated articles.
I'll eat anything that smells good, tastes good, and isn't people. If nutria, lionfish, black tiger shrimp, or Asian carp showed up at my grocery store for 79 cents a pound, I'd stock my freezer and fire up the grill. And kudzu sounds like a prime candidate for biofuel feedstock.
"Like" all over the place. Food sources and energy sources found in the category "FAIL!" I don't know the economics of this concept, but I like it.
Here in the south, kudzu took over because livestock WOULDN'T eat it.
This article about eating invasive species is absolutely correct. In Florida, two species come to mind. Feral pigs and foriegn pythons.
Feral pigs are ruinous to the Everglades. Since they are wild, the can be probably be considered to be organic which opens a large and lucrative market for them. Southern Florida has a huge number of restaurants; it is time for the chefs in Florida to make a concerted effort at using this source of meat that is wild, organic, nutritious and tasty. People already eat pigs and so using them will require little persuasion. Setting up a system to harvest them and getting them quickly to the market is the key.
Foreign pythons (like the Burmese and others) will take more effort. Probably the best way is to have cooking contest on the food channels to show how to prepare them. Once they become a hot item on the food channels, then developing a market for them will be much easier.
Unfortunately invasive species cannot be stopped; only controlled.
Few things are more invasive to an ecology than the dreaded snowbird. They come down during tourist season, but we can't shoot them to thin out the herd. Pity.
enjoy the revenue though, annie. in this day to make jokes about shooting people? sad lady. i thought fat people were generally jolly, or so they say.
Oh berbes, you are one of those fatties who comes down every year and thinks they own the joint because they tip 5%. You need to lighten up and please stay out of the left lane when you are here.
The Florida Seminoles thought the same way about the Spaniards. Cortez the Killer was quite the tourist. You claim to be a native but let's point one thing out. Because a python hatched in Florida doesn't make it native. The same goes with you.
Next time I get into a fight – I'll use Lionfish spines as blowgun darts... keemo sabe ? Would that work or do you use 'em when they're fresh off the fish ? Just asking ...
ANYTHING other than a completely vegan diet is nothing short of barbaric. People who comsume meat or fish should be jailed.
Vegans are gross and typically are quite uneducated. Please stay away from us. I am going to go eat a burger in my leather chair now!
THESE FISH BEAUTIFUL WHY NOT PUT THEM IN YOUR SALT WATER AQAURUIM.
Deep Fried Lion Fish or Asian Carp, with prepared invasive plants for Salad on the side on Italian dressing (or your preference), a heaping pile of French Fries, Coke or for YOU EWRUFIANS a glass of white wine and Presto, instant exotic gastronomic meal. Hey More LionFish and Carps here, pronto. Invasive Species (spiced up) solved.
Periwinkles, native to the Maine coast were in abundance when I was a kid, now their population is so depleted there's not 2 cups worth to be found in any one visit to the shore...and this article explains why....
Put the word out to the Japanese and Chinese community that lionfish are a great aphrodisiac and they will eat the lionfish into extinction just like they are doing to the rhinoceros.
Do wetbacks crossing the Rio Grande count as an edible invasive specie???
If you can't beat them, eat them. Yes, humans are really great at eating things to near extinction so it's a great twist on fish conservation to advocate eating lionfish to save other species including commercial fish. Since lionfish are an invasive species (no natural predators in their adopted environment), taking them out of an ecosystem by eating them for supper actually helps biodiversity. Apparently they taste pretty good too: http://bit.ly/vImHSk
"Invasive species, as defined by the USDA’s National Agricultural Library, aren't native to the local ecosystem and may cause economic, environmental or medical harm. They can exist in many forms: plants, animals or even microorganisms."
They are talking about humans here, right? That's exactly what we do!
I've always said that there must be some way to convert kudzu into biofuel...that would turn an invasive species into a renewable energy source for the US!
Wow... I did not even had to read the aentire article but let me see, humans are going to do what we do best. Messs up the ecosystem. then mess with something even bigger, evolution!!! Has anyone stopped to think why those species may eb thriving in our new set of conditions. Let's not eat them all, we may regret it in the long term.
As the article said, invasive species are much harder to reduce in numbers than any other species. So eating them to extinction status is very unlikely at the present.
"Has anyone stopped to think ..." Apparently you haven't.
By applying your logic and I use that term loosely, I can put polar bears in the south pole and have them destroy the penguin population, and you would say its evolution at work,
Open a biology book
Its impossible for evolution to take place when there are no animals left to evolve. Take Guam, for example; Guam has no native snakes. The brown snake hitched a ride on boats to the island and with no predators, within a few years they almost completely wiped out all of the small animals on the island. Most of the native vertebrate species on the island are now extinct.
Eating invasive species. Please!
You Americans have SUCH undignified tastes. Like little children with their chicken nuggets.
Europeans are so much more refined.
Europeans can't be that much more refined. Afterall, they don't have their own version of Sarah Palin.
LM AO! Too funny!
Not all dishes made from invasive species are disgusting. For example, consider the Asian Carp, which is an invasive species of mostly the Mississippi river basin. It's actually a common dish, especially in China. Black tiger shrimp is another example of such a species.
So not all dishes made from invasive species are disgusting. In fact, I think you should be a little bit disgusted because you made such harsh conclusions so quickly from what (little) you knew.
i love how creeps like you need to feel superior by putting down 300,000,000
Europeans smell and have yellow teeth. If that is refinement count me out. You are gross.
Ick! =o)
"Let’s farm them, let’s do other things with it, but we can’t just let these invasive species be out in the wild"
- – - – - – - – - – - -
Humans are, by far, the most invasive species on the planet. Let's work on getting people to stop having more than one baby, and then we can get on our high horse.
We are not invasive. We are conquerors!
less than 1 baby? one of the biggest demographic issues right now is the problem of productive replacement– much of the west is having kids at too slow of a rate to support an aging population. more important is educating our young (and perhaps you, since you're clueless)
Yes. Half babies for everyone is the real answer.
I agree the most invasive specie is by far humans. A virus that I am not sure the earth will ever be able to get rid of.
Yes, I am included as a fleshy virus...
Wow, dude. That's like totally deep. And your ideas on how to improve things are truly impressive.
Take some antibiotics then, because the rest of us are perfectly healthy. I hear the hemlock is nice this time of year.
Mr. Smith said it first. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Na9-jV_OJI
Humans brought the fish into the environment not native to the fish, therefore the fish should hardly be blamed. Plus the argument of "eat them before they eat everything" can be applied to humans and you hardly see that plan of action being taken.
The invasive species are damaging the environment by killing the native species, eating them, and outbreeding because they have no natural predators or fewer natural predators. You're missing the point, Sandra: they don't belong where they've been imported and they need to be eradicated.
Do you cheer mass murderers, or killers for that matter period? This is a sick mentality that leads people to believe that life is not precious and then go around destroying it. And why is it sick people like you are in no hurry to leave this planet. Why is it you always foist your sick solutions on everyone else. Is it because you are a coward, or just a selfish hypocrite?
Ok, before you get all emotional about this fish and I love my saltwater hobby too, we have a other animal problems that if we do not control the numbers the result is devastating. The tiger shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico from Asia can be found the size of lobsters and they are eating the shrimp. The Carp, that people had in their man made ponds is dominating the Mississpii River eating everything and heading to the Great Lakes! The Python Snakes in Florida has been challenging the Gators there and in some cases winning. Just imagine a world without shrimp to eat because they cost way to much, or the only fish you can buy is Carb and they have way too many bones, or now instead of watching out for Gators you now have to bigger threat of Python 15 – 25 foot snakes weighing 900+ pounds and can crush you and swallow you whole. If you still don't get it, buy a female and male cat and don't spade her and don't neutor him and watch your problem multiply and multiply and multiply. All the author here is saying: We need to control and keep watch over our eco-system and environment or it will be too late for us and what we currently have...!
Kudzu roots, which can be as large as a human, are made into a flour that is used in East Asian cooking.
cover em in hot sauce and i'll eat the fukers
lol, what a monster...
I am helping with the removal of wild pigs. I see one I just gut shoot it and let it run into the woods and bleed out. Ive unloaded clips into herds of those filthy bast**** and let them scatter like roaches.
What a waste of good BBQ! Up here in the North GA mountains, me & my cousins will have a big boar hunt, then fire up our huge smoker.The women whip up some side dishes, we send junior into town for a couple of kegs, and we have a big party.
Torture is a good method of removing invasive species?
Yes, now lets start with invasive people...
Hear, hear.
That's actualy illegal. Hunters may not shoot prey and allow it to run away. They are obligated to find the prey and end its suffering. Not only that, you have to remove the body in whole. What state do you live that you think allows you to do this?
He's NOT hunting. He is killing for the sake of killing. Next he will move on to people when he can't get a thrill out of pigs anymore. No hunter I know would do this. I have seen guys track an animal for 7-8 hours to find it. He's a rednecktard with a gun who probably doesn't even have a permit.
What of your post, Georges? Considering the recent massacres it's not in the least amusing. It's quoted below for you to deny in all of its grammatical and inflammatory ignorance:
'Yes, now lets start with invasive people...'
Here's hoping the FBI is reading this post.
Eat Mor Chikin'.
Lionfish make cool pets for big salt water tanks. feral hogs make good bacon, pork chops, sausage, and more bacon. Asian Carp...well, clean it, salt/pepper, grill it, profit
They are lovely but you cannot keep other fish with them unless they are much larger. Lionfish will eat fish (or try to) the same size as themselves. I actualy prefer the smaller versions that don't get bigger than 3-4 inches. The more common lionfish (pictured) can get over 6 inches in just body length (never mind the fins/spines.)
Every year in Belize on Ambergris Caye they have a lionfish roundup and cooking contest. Grab your gear an head down to join in.
We have the same thing in Bermuda ive been spearfishing for about 3 years now and i see them almost everytime hanging out under ledges i shoot them everytime. We have about 2 roundups a year to go out and kill them the person with the most of them gets a prize. But its still not making a dent in the population. If you dive down to 250 feet here there's thousands of them.
They're not invasive in Belize or Bermuda. They are in the Gulf of Mexico where they're rapidly crowding out native species.
How can an invasive species article not, at least in passing, mention Australia. They are trying to eradicate invasive species from blackberries to camels. Many plant and tree species were eliminated by rabbits.
Rabbits make good BBQ too. Don't know what to do about those darn cane toads, though.
Any meat that is heavily season like BBQ can be good BBQ. Not sure about reptiles or fish, but any bird/mammal is good BBQ.
When visiting and hunting/camping on my families property in Louisiana you always go to have flour with you in case you run across a Nutria. They make good po boys. We call it the other white meat.
Kill it then grill it baby!
Put a bounty of 5 dollars a fish on lionfish and similar pest and let the fishermen and scuba divers make some cash. Then turn the little suckers into fertilizer. Nutria- make fur fashionable again and sell the meat as "water Rabbitt". Come on people, get with it. The florda snake problem and monkey problem- same thing. Legalize their killing and pay a bounty. Pretty much solve the problem.
How about just waiving the spear fishing license for those going after lionfish alone? Its a rare dive between FL and NC that you don't see the blasted things these days. Most of us would be happy to shoot on sight- I've even tried stepping on the vermin- but fees and permits are a barrier. They hang relatively still and make easy targets for a basic pole spear.
There is already a bounty on Nutria of $5 per tail, I believe, and hog hunts are going in that direction. Feral hog is delicious. Piglets are even better. If you go out at the right time of year, after the sows give birth, and shoot at a group of piglets, it has been my experience that a 30.06 will go completely through 3 piglets and into 1 more–dinner.
Offering a bounty presents a new problem: some folks will grow them just for the bounty. I don't necessarily see myself eating lion fish but why not make these and other invasive species like snakes and nutria into dog food or other animal feed? Protein is protein to a dog, cat, or zoo animals.
Nutria sounds like it should either be the plural of nutrient or some sort of disease. they should consider calling it something else as a nickname. sometimes an animal's name has a lot of influence on how people perceive it. And make sure it's not something cute because then people don't want to eat that either. the italians call it castorino. that sounds more like a delicacy than nutria or river rat. it's all about PR
Sounds nutritious to me, which is a good thing.
I like " Water rabbits " ... Feral Hog – the leanest bacon or smoked chop you can have ... A little gamey though ... Lionfish ? .. Just dont get stung – more like a fate worst than death or they hurt so much you'd wish you were dead ...
Q. an 'Invasive Species' is.......
A. human being?
You beat me to it.
Cry me a river, treehugger. Jump off a bridge and free the world of one less of an "invasive species".
And let's not forget that most scrumptious of invasive species of Class Insecta – the Asian cockroach. Tastes great fried as an appetizer, boiled in gumbo, and not bad as a pizza topping either.
There are two things we do really well in this country.
1. Kill things
2. Convince people to buy/consume things whether they need them or not.
What's the problem?
Good points.
When I read the headline of this article, I thought it was about Chinese people. SORRY!
I thought this was about liberals and nature activists.
HAHAHAHA...wow that is funny!
only problem is your always hungrier after eating chinese .. j/k :)
Seriously, you just insulted at least a billion people.
"Seriously ..." Seriously?
Eradicate Nutria. Those animals are just wrong, wrong, wrong.
I use to think that these fish where very expensive because there so pretty looking, until I asked the clerk in the store what the price was, I was shock they where so cheap, they are really cool looking.
And that's the problem Cool looking and when the owner doesn't want them anymore, they drop them in a canal or similar and bingo- problem.
They were accidentally released into the wild during Hurricane Andrew, just like the pythons.
Good job thinking outside of the box w/ this article. I don't know if harvesting invasive species for food or for sport is the solution to the problem or not, but in order to tackle the problem, we may have to get creative.
You're such a witty fellow.
How have we managed to survive for so long without your saged, real reasoned logic?
http://www.todaysxm.com/2011/11/22/nature-foundation-don%E2%80%99t-eat-lionfish/
This article is less than a year old and I could not find anything that talks aboutt the mentioned toxin on other sites. I wonder how reliable it is, however, it is "food for thought".
Here is one article I read earlier this year in a DAN magazine article:
http://www.alertdiver.com/Reports_from_the_Lionfish_Front
From what I've heard and seen, in south Florida, they're safe. I've personally eaten quite a few lionfish, and know a lot of other people who do, and have never heard of anyone getting ciguatera poisoning. Granted, this is purely anecdotal evidence, but it's been working for me.
The problem with invasive species is that ever time we eradicate one, there is another species that depended on THAT species for survival. So THAT species grows out of control. So now we have another problem. These problems will keep escalating until we decide to let nature handle itself. The same applies with hunting. If we kill deer to the point that there are very few left, where do you think the bear and wolf are going to go hunting? I'll give you a hint. it walks on two legs. The cougar in California is already doing it. We have Black Bear here and when deer season is over, the very next spring, the Black Bear comes looking for food. Guess where they go? I have rebuilt my shed twice in the last year. Not one but three bears tore it up looking for food. In the insect world the same thing happens. The farmer kills the insect that feeds on the corn but by doing so they have killed the very food that another insect depends on. So THAT insect becomes the problem somewhere else. Maybe on potatoes or beans. We have interfered with nature now nature is fighting back and we are the ones who will lose. Have you ever read about pestilence or epidemics?
Rick,
You completely missed the point. None of your examples are invasive species, they are all native. Native species are integrated into the environment, invasive species are not.
Sorry Rick but your post is nonsensical and filled with you basically making stuff up off the top of your head, but having no real idea if any of it is true from a biological standpoint.
If we don't harvest a few deer every season, the population gets too big for the food supply. Then there are too many deer, they don't get enough to eat, they ALL get sick, plus they run into the road and cause hundreds of wrecks every year. Not to mention the people at Wal-Mart who depend on us for camo clothing, ammo, & hunting licenses so they have a job.
You dumbass. Lionfish are not native to the American waters. The ecosystem was fine before it came along. So if we eliminate these fish like the Asian carp, the native species will flourish. An example is the Asian Carp. They consume up to 40% of their weight. They are also aggressive so they will do what it takes to eat. They leaves the native species without food to die and some of those fish are what we like to eat. Eating Asian Carp equals more room for native species.
There is a difference between eradicating a native pest and an invasive species. By eradicating a native pest, you may indeed disrupt the local ecosystem, both the food chain, as well as agriculture/horticulture. However, an invasive species isn't a long-standing part of the native ecosystem and is in fact displacing and/or killing native species. Eliminating the invader will hopefully let the local balance of nature return to normal. If left alone, a new balance will emerge, but is is one that may not be very appealing to the people who depend on the status quo for either quality of life or for business purposes.
Rick,
There are no species that "depend" on invasive species.
The reason is because the invasive species, which are almost always predators, are not native to the ecosystems that they invade. It is the invasive species that throw the ecosystem out of balance.
You get rid of the invasive species and the ecosystem re-balances itself.
Bottom line Rick......you really just don't know what an 'Invasive Species' is.......
Hello, we ARE nature. That's right, humans are actually natural species that evolved on this earth. So, when we hunt, farm, or otherwise alter existing ecology, it is NATURE that is working exactly the way it should. Ecosystems change all the time. This is not a bad thing.
Actually, when you really get down to it, more than any other organism......HUMANS are the most invasive land dwelling species on the planet.
Yeah, but killing is certainly not of the methods of controlling that "invasive species"... We might even get into the topic of birth control here.
That's a false analogy that humans are a part of nature. Do you believe that fish farming is natural? Fattening cattle on a feedlot? Monoculture farming? Scraping the bottom of the ocean of all life with a giant net and taking complete schools of fish is natural? If you do, there's something twisted and wrong inside your head. Business isn't natural.
Howie, humans stopped being a part of nature when the Industrial Revolution began. Take some classes in biology and learn about it before you make false analogies you don't understand.
Yeah just like ants herding and milking aphids, or using formic acid to kill off plants that they don't want around. Wow your right no other animail does anything like people. Oh wait biology 109 talks about these things. I guess thats 109 more biology classes than you took. Pehaps you should pick up a book that doesn't have harry potter on the front or go back to school because all that stuff was in my first year biology class. It prerequiste was showing up and a reading level high enough to register for the class.
Cougars in California, eh? I wouldn't mind being hunted by them, if you know what I mean.
I know what you mean, I wouldnt mind hunting a few myself. I hear they prefer young meat!
Anyone know how to bait specifically for a Lionfish? If you can make it easy to catch them it will be profitable and the numbers and permits will follow. Anyone heard of a Lionfish POD? They are so prolific that divers only killing several each time they dive wont make any difference. How about killing the eggs they lay? Or finding another species to eat their eggs? Then maybe we could eat that species when it becomes invasive. If you put Lionfish on the menu or start canning them I'll buy! Anyone know a really good Marine Biologist?
It is not possible to kill the eggs before they hatch. Lionfish breed by dropping eggs into the water column, which then get fertilzed by the male. The eggs are not attached to anything. Divers are permitted to kill on sight down in the Gulf, however, as you mentioned, not enough are being taken. They are also used in the awuarium trade, however, need specific conditions as they will destroy your reef aquarium and eat anything that moves.
There's a key flaw in the thinking here. For something to be marketed successfully and profitably, the supply chain must be reliable. Lionfish may be "everywhere", but that's quite different from having an efficient, reliably supply chain of them.
I've often wondered why Kudzu wasnt being used as a way to feed certain livestock or even turned into a compost or planting medium...
At least in NC I know of many farmers that use Kudzu to feed their cattle. There are also many people that make wicker furniture from from the vines. My friend's grandma makes Kudzu jelly out of the flowers.
Cows will only eat kudzu if there is nothing else, plus it makes their milk taste funny.
That's only because "kudzu" is a funny word.
I don't know why more people don't hunt wild pigs. There are a lot of them and they are very tasty. :-)
They say the Asian carp taste pretty good too, unlike native carp and they're easy to catch, they jump right into your boat.
Also, I thought I read a few years ago that somebody had found a good use for kudzu, but then I never heard any more about it and there is still a lot of it around.
I vaguely remember that asian carp are not really carp, but a filter feeder that eats the freshwater plankton. This makes them taste better than the bottom feeding carp but also wreaks havoc on the eco system as they consume most of the plankton.
You are correct, the asian carp are filter feeders and beginning to take a toll on the rivers here in IL. We bow-fish for them here on the rivers, as in shoot them with a bow as they jump out of the water. I've yet to eat them, maybe they are tasty, but I don't see myself eating them anytime soon.
The problem with a lot of "river-fish" is that they have too many fish bones you have to pick out before you eat them. But if you know how to prepare them and eat them, they make a tasty dish. Carps are a common dish in China.
As the population continues to rise and food becomes more scarce, I think hunger will take care of the problem. Wonder if the vine of the south is eatable, a person needs their greens.
Yes, I have tried Kudzu. It taste like shiiiiiit!
I've heard some people eat the leaves in a salad, but the one that sounds better to me is that my friend's grandma makes jelly from the Kudzu flowers.
Learn more @invasivore.org out of Notre Dame.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...lionfish
By this logic Native Americans should have eaten European settlers the moment they landed on foreign shores. Just saying – what's good for the goose should be good for the gander, right? This is kinda arrogant in my opinion.
Shut up retard.
That may oe of the worst points ever made.
I believe that some of the South American Indians did just that.
alternatively one might call it arrogant to compare the value of a human life to a fish.
He didn't say humans, just brits...
with post like Ben's its safe to say there is a never ending supply of dumba$$' on these pages
Some of them did, and I for one don't see a problem with that. Unfortunately for them, the European settlers were more technologically advanced and won the battle. Fortunate for us however, as the advanced society was intrinsically superior and we are the direct beneficiaries.
A researcher gave a talk to my aquarium club a few years ago about his work with lionfish. He mentioned that when they caught fish for dissection, they saved a bunch of filets in the freezer and cooked them at the end of the trip, and they were superb. In ecological terms, they're devastating - they're in the fish nurseries (especially mangrove areas) and eating the young fish that we depend on to replenish many species. Humans are good at eating animals to extinction - let's work on some of these. EAT INVASIVE SPECIES!
Didn't see lionfish on any menu in Florida during my trips there this year. Maybe Floridian chefs should make that first step.
They are offered around here (MN). A local TV show followed the whole process–from catching to preparation and talking with diners. The people who ate lionfish liked it very much. Prep was similar to walleye and so was the taste (per the diners who tried it). So, there easily could be a large commercial market for it in the US and elsewhere.
But then what happens when some moron decides that the invasive species is becoming extinct? Then the whole thing shuts down and we have to create a special habitat for them
Better a special habitat for them than you.
The article is not advocating killing off the entire species. The organisms population would be reduced in ecosystems/ areas where it doesn't naturally belong, but not in areas where it is an endemic species.
Right...you have animal X isn't supposed to be in environment Y because there's nothing to limit its population (no natural predators outside of natural habitat, natural habitat is geographically isolated, etc), I see no reason to eliminate them from the habitat they've found their way into. If we can bullshit people into buying fake Kobe beef in this country (if you're not in Japan or Macau, it's either black market beef or you just got hosed), why can't we get some foodies into coaxing the masses into eating a cheap "delicacy" like a sauteed lionfish au gratin or "free range" pork products from feral boars in the South (if people are willing to feast on Patagonian toothfish because they started calling it Chilean sea bass, we can spice up some animal names to make them sound more palatable or less disgusting).
How about renaming liberal socialists "2-legged venison" or labeling rappers as "urban punkfish" (lord knows they are one of the most invasive inner-city species, there's more of them than there are pigeons!)
The Lionfish are now every where. We dove in the Dominican Republic 4 years ago and there were none. We went back 2 years ago and you would see about 10 on each dive. We are going back again this Fall and I expect to see them every where. Same thing with the Cayman Islands. Most Dive Masters will only kill them if they know the divers since some people want to see them. After we got to know our dive master and he realized we were OK with killing them he killed about 6 in one dive. They eat all the other fish and have no predators.
this is true, Jamaica was really bad last year but I was in Cayman last week and with some days of diving 7 times a day I saw maybe 1 a day. apparently they have been all over it in the Cayman Islands.
Yea, the dive operations in the Cayman's pretty much give you a talk on the boat about the Lionfish and kill them as they go if you are OK with it. They even have culling days where all the dive operations go out with the staff and kill everyone they see all day. They believe the Lionfish boom happened after some of the large hurricanes in South Florida took out home aquariums, and pet stores suppliers and they survived. Kind of like the python and boa problem in the Everglades.
More lionfish would be harvested and sold in Florida if the state didn't require permits for divers to sell them to fish markets. Lionfish are unprotected, so why does the state throw road blocks into the process?
Because selling them to fish markets means selling them to the public. If someone gets sick, they have to know why and where the food came from. It's the same reason you have to have a permit to be a street vendor.
Democrats taste bad.
It's because they're full of vitriol and liberalism
Better to taste bad then to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Bill sure left a bad taste in Monica's mouth!
i'm sure these creatures will be eaten when there is nothing else to eat. survival and economics dictate what we eat and do but not alot of westerners realize that.
We eat lionfish on a regular basis in the Caribbean – there are hunting contests to remove them. They have no predators and are spreading like crazy. They're also delicious!
Even carp can be ground up and turned into pet food.
Aren't there laws preventing people from touching invasive species or even coming within a certain distance in some states? How are e just gonna eat them?
You're confusing the word, "invasive" with the words, "protected" or "endangered".
I recently saw a video online where nutria were being used as a primary food source for alligator/crocodile farms. With unemployment high it seems to me that unemployed people in areas where there is an abundant supply of nutria would get into trapping these animals and selling them as wild animal food.
I was involved in fisheries management for quite a few years I feel sure that a commercial fishery will eventually develope that will control these fish. I wouldn't be hesitant at all to consume lionfish.
Uh, nutria aren't fish... they're rodents. But the rest of your comment works.
I think NoTags knows that nutria aren't fish since the comment mentioned trapping them. The mention of fish was in a separate paragraph more or less so I take that as a change of subject.
Yep, good idea, I hold a frenchman in my garden to get rid of the snails biologically. And a southern redneck in the front yard to clean up the roadkill on the street.
Hopefully, that roadkill was a worthless yank!!
And we keep a stuffy European in the back yard for target practice.
We keep republicans in Florida to counteract hurricanes.
Pat Robertson takes care of that for us in VA.
You mean you keep republicans to counteract democrat hot air and vote-tampering.
Um, no, but thanks loads for putting the wrong words in my mouth. KUTGW. I meant quite the opposite.
Well, at the very least, wild hogs and invasive carp could be turned into pet food. We have an astounding pet population, and feeding them a food that their ancestors likely found in the wild, only makes sense. They'd probably love the flavor.
No.
You know, it's to bad that I don't live in one of the areas affected by these things. By all means, I'd eat them and quick.... but I live in NM where we don't really have anything like these as issues. Any invasive species over here are pretty much a meh thing or are bugs that we spray for anyway.
I live in Florida and the Lionfish is the same to most of us.
If there are so many of these, how come they are so expensive in the tropical fish stores?
Nonsense! There's no invasive species, this is nature folks! Nature is not frozen in time. It evolves, species move and adopt to the new environment. "Invasive" becomes "native".
Actually,.......you're correct. Eventually, the local flora and fauna will adapt to these invasive species, as the invasive species will adapt to their new environment. That being said, if it looks good, eat it.
You sound like a firm believer in selection/adaptation/evolution. You described how it's supposed to work - but in reality numerous species are dying out all the time, with none to replace them except the invaders. Never has there been so few species living on earth as we have presently. If the evolution were true, then we would expect countless new and more viable species replacing/replenishing them - but that is not what is happening, instead we have widespread species decimation.
At the end of the 19th century the huge Cod populations of the Atlantic were being decimated by overfishing. Huxley, often called "Darwin's Bulldog" proclaimed that the fisherman should go on with their overfishing, because this would trigger natural selection mechanisms and result in more a robust population of Cod, better fit for survival. His advice was unfortunately followed and it led to the collapse of this species, which has not recovered to this day! This is just one of the many cases where wrong Darwinian assumptions has led to a catastrophy.
@roccop777
>but in reality numerous species are dying out all the time, with none to replace them except the invadersNever has there been so few species living on earth as we have presentlyinstead we have widespread species decimation<
.
This part is.. somewhat true but it is also common in the fossil record.
You are making things up to support your view.
To: TomTom the Pipers son - you claim that I am "just making things up to support my view". Could you please be specific about what I am making up? Huxley's distasterous Darwinist advice to the fishing industry is a fact of history. That we have scores of species' dying out, but no totally new species arising to replace them - is also a verifiable fact. Life arising spontaneously from lifeless matter, has also never been observed or duplicated, just a matter of blind faith. And the suggested mechanism for genetic change presently put forward by the synthetic theory (Neo- Darwinism) - that mutations can somehow ADD new genetic information into the gene pool to enable a living organism to evolve to a life form on a higher level of complexity has never been observed.
You need to consider that maybe you, and the evolution faith community, are making things up to support their view!
It may be a little hard to see what the problem is at first but it really is a big deal. Take it to the extreme to see what I mean. Imagine we found some strange creature on the moon. We bring it back to earth and it kills every creature but us. That would be bad but it also be natural in a way. But natural does not equal good in that sense. Invasive speicies homogenize nature. By reducing diversity of ecosystems you reduce possible tools for our and life and generals future use. After all most of the medicines came ultimatly from nature. If there are onl 10 speicies on earth instead of a 100 there are less possible targets.
Dandelion is an invasive species brought here for ornamental purposes. They have adopted very well to my lawn. The Emerald Tree Borer has adopted very well and now our ash trees are dying and we can no longer carry fire wood across county lines in the Midwest. BTW, one large wooded area that I know of is was 60% ash. They have had to cut down every ash tree there when the pest showed up. I guess fire ants are welcomed in the U.S. too. I forgot about that.
You or your idiot son is the one who released his pet Lionfish from Asia into the Atlantic Ocean. They eat everything in sight. What do you not get about that? Millions of years, no Lionfish in the Atlantic, one fool releasing a Lionfish in the recent past – a problem.
What are you talking about? Eat the invaders? How do you know they are edible? Forget yuck – what if you get sick or die? OMG
Wow. It's obvious that there aren't many courageous explorers in your family tree.
Why can't we just kill 'em? Get out your guys boys. lol.
Some invasive species which are not so palatable can be turned to food for fish farms so that pressure on species such as alewives and menhaden can be lightened. In the case of asian carp the cleaned carcasses sell well to China and the rest can still be turned into fish food.
Our beautiful Great Lakes make up 20% of the freshwater on earth (anartica makes up 70%). They're being attacked by many species like Zebra mussels and Asian Carp, not to mention plant life.. Sometimes I feel it's a lost cause.
*Antarctica
And with Lake Baikal in Russia, at 20% that makes the world's fresh water content at 110%!!! Do your math and do your research. Otherwise idiots will think they have 10% more water to waste and pollute.
I read or saw a news clip this spring about some bright individual in Illinois has a contract to supply tons of Asian Carp to China. In China they are selling for top dollar because of the clean waters and good diet they were raised with.
There's gold in them there waters.
Seen the you tube vids , these things just jump in your boat. No fishing gear needed.
Heck yeah, sign me up! I quite enjoy eating more adventurous animals, in fact I go out of my way to order them on every menu I see them on. I go by the Anthony Bourdain rule of "if it's slower than me and stupider than me, pass the salt." From the really excellent braised rabbit at a local Italian place to pigeons in Mexico, if it's not found in my local grocery store I'm totally down to eat it. I don't care about happy ecological effects really, my one plate isn't going to make a huge dent in that, I just enjoy expanding my list of creatures consumed.
"The Hawaii Invasive Species Partnerships has since estimated that the species causes $50 million in damages each year in Puerto Rico and Hawaii alone."
Now ask ANY Hawaiian if the mongoose is a problem compared to a snake-free island and we will tell you, SMALL FRICKIN CHANGE!
sarah-letrent-eatocracy-associate-editor-HACK WRITER! Research your stuff woman, earn your damn pay check!
Speaking of doing your research...
Hopefully the Hawaiian you ask will know some natural history and point out that there are no native terrestrial snakes to Hawaii. The mongoose wasn't introduced to control snakes since there weren't any, but to control rodents, which were also not native.
Speaking of research, isn't her using a statistic doing just that?. And also speaking of research, since you're an authority on the matter Flea, you'll know that mongooses were brought in to control rats. And because mongooses are active mostly during the day and the rat is active mostly at night, they didn't even do what they were supposed to do.
I tol' Jimmy Carter he should send Fidel Castro a cutting from his home state's native plant: kudzu. But he didn't listen to me none. Cuba's still there, when it could'a been sunk out of sight.
Asian carp are delicious. If you can get all the bones out. They are absolutely full of little bones and it is very time consuming to prepare the fish. In the end you don't get very much meat off of them, although they taste quite good.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Seattle that serves a mean asian carp.
Feral cat stew might be good , as well as cat-chow-main. Just keep in mind that there's more than one way to skin one.
Unfortunately my favorite Chinese restaurant in Arlington VA was closed because the health inspector found many skinned cats in the walk-in. Apparently many people living near by had call the animal control looking for their kitties and that got an investigation going.
And yes, I know I ate cat there because the Peking duck came with four legs. And it was delicious.
The Chinese, as a whole, do not eat cats. Cat meat is only eaten in some southern regions and not as a staple. It's illegal to trade in cats for meat, or cat meat in China, and eating cats is considered unacceptable in northern China.
You might not know it but cat meat and dog meat can be found to be consumed in some parts of Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and so on.
Yes it illegal to eat cats in China now because the rat population is out of control in all the major cities. So much so that rat is now served in even China's finest restaurants. There is a National Geographic magazine article that beautifully photographed rats served in street corner shops and posh places.
Anybody got a recipe for English Sparrow?
Bake between 2 husks of coconut, run away.
Also: If it floats, it's a witch.
Garnish with another shrubbery.
Would prefer some Crunchy Frog myself...
The # invasive species on the planet: humans.
I tried that one...It didn't end well!
If I were in a lifeboat with a bunch of other folks wih plenty of water for a couple weeks, I think I might go Bonner party crazy and start seeing the others as fat, juicy succulent hogs ripe for gutting. But I'm sure some of the others would probaby be thinking the same thing. We'd all be looking at each other wondering who among the weakest will croak off first. Then we would all move in to rip apart the freshly dead carcass so everyone get's a nice chunk of meat. I'd probably go for the liver if I couldn't tear me off a nice sirloin cut. The weakest among us can fight over the @ss end. But with full bellies we'd all become sane again and very regretful after having eaten someone's dearly departed. But then the hunger pangs would return. Then it's back to seeing everyone as walking talking cheesburgers until there's only one left. Hopefully me, just in time to be rescued by that passing cruise ship. ;op
I'd love to eat me up some lionfish!
i would like a fur berger instead
Hahahahahah
Sounds good, hold the furr though
I never had lionfish, but I did have fugu sashimi (poisonous pufferfish) in Japan. That was something else.
Or stupid idiots like yourself! Jack-hole!
Talking to yourself?
LOL! Win!
"Be like action bastard and put your mouth on a sausage." Yeah no. I'd rather not eat something that's out there eating everything else. Any of you posters in support of this ever eat lion? I guess not.
Hmmm....try market these "invasive" species to the Asians – particularly the Chinese – that they can enhance longevity, increase libido, etc... These "invasive" species will become non-issues before you know it. May be back up the stories with some science, or even psedo-science.
They're trying to cut down their populations, not make them extinct. Oh, and btw, no marketing to the Chinese needed. Just put them out there. Chinese will eat anything that at one time walked, crawled, swam or slithered.
I've heard European Starlings are actually quite tasty.
Consume the world's single most invasive species; eat Soylent Green!
My favorite cracker...
I prefer Soylent Green with a schmear of $160 strawberry jelly, just before checking in to the euthanasia clinic with Edward G. Robinson.
I'd eat a snail.
"Eat a beaver. Save a tree."
Too bad the Carribbeans didn't think of this back in 1492
If it were only this easy. I'd love to get the dirty hippies here in Austin that stupidly feed feral cat colonies to cook them instead. They are, by far, the worst invasive species in this country. The cats, I mean, not the hippies (although they are definitely parasites).
You wouldn't have feral cats if you local bubbas didn't get tired of your pets and kick them out to fend for themselves. At least the hippies give a damn.
Or even just get the animals neutered.
Neutered cats still devastate the environment. And, if by 'give a damn' you mean they make selfish, emotional decisions that have horrible long-term effects because they are too stupid to think things through, then yes.
Bubba have dogs, not cats.
got a recipe for Spanish Moss?
“The biggest problem – is people are hungry, these are good foods,” he says.
The biggest problem is actually, that you'll never get Macdonald's to start serving them, so you'll never get most Americans to eat them. Put them in a multi-colored microwaveable pouch in the freezer aisle, and you may get parents to buy them for their kids but otherwise. You're out of luck in this country.
"Overgeneralizing self-hating American leaves what he thinks is a clever comment."
More to follow........
McLionfish Fillet Sandwich, Iguana McNuggets in Kudzu sauce, Mongoose Burgers. The culinary possibilities are staggering!
I wonder how zebra mussels taste?
Eat Canada geese! I am from Buffalo – these geese are surrounding our airports! Their numbers have grown 10-fold since the last year! And they are yummy! Eat em away, please!
I eat buffaloes
Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI recently killed 400+ Canada geese as their population in the park was out of control ans they were concerned about the geese waste contaminating the pond. Like all the human pollution is helping. They say they donated the goose meat to the local food banks. There is a zoo at the park and they should have also have used some of the meat to feed the carnivores and so save themselves lots of money, and plus it's all part of the natural food chain after all.
Canada Geese: Rats with Wings
I remember when they were endangered and very rare to see. There is such a thing as a program being too successful.
Lets fry that sucka up and serve him with a side of fries
Somebody needs to come up with a way to market the darn flying carp as a delicacy. Getting rid of them is on the agenda of everyone that boats or fishes the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Sure "carp" has bad connotations wish most fish eaters, so come up with some other name. Literally tons of free protein for the taking – any way you want: fish pole (not recommended), net, or shotgun.
Getting rid of carp should be easy. In most Asian cuisines they are considered a delicacy. Boney is the main problem. When my Dad was stationed in Arkansas we'd fish off the nearby levy. Used to pull in lots of carp. Tossed them until we met an old share cropper who lived nearby. He said he'd take them. He had a smoke house and said when smoked properly the bones just dissolved away.
" The only way to be a true vegan without being a total contradiction is to be born and starve to death."
LOL, definitely true. No matter what, we must leave a footprint somewhere.
@planet_jackson
Along the same line of thinking, the creative gourmet chefs of New York could create a delicacy based on plentiful New York unwelcome rodents, commonly referred to as rats. This would go a long way in helping to minimize or control the population of these unwelcome and sometime troublesome creatures. It probably would taste like chicken to the uninformed.
The Cajuns eat nutria, which is basically a large rodent. It takes a little getting past the idea of eating a big rat, but its not too bad once you try it.
I'm from the north and have killed, cleaned and eaten nutria. Not a fan.
A rat by any other name is still a rat.
During a recent diving trip to Roatan I was able to participate in a competition a local conservation group had planned, where people went spear fishing for lion fish and then at the end of it there was a large barbecue/party with a second competition based on cooking the lion fish to try to introduce locals and such to the idea of the fish actually being an edible tasty fish, which it is when cooked right like many different fish. It was a two pronged effort to try to generate a local based demand for the fish and at the same time remove as many as we could from the ecosystem it was slowly destroying and in the end I do think it worked well I can only hope it continues.
On a long enough timeline, every species is "invasive" (or non-native). It is a meaningless distinction.
Thank you.
Dude I'm so hungry...pass that fish over here...that looked awesome!!
I'm eating top ramen for lunch...ugh!...lol
Just go steal someone else's lunch out of the refrigerator, that's what I do.
What if people in Hawaii start eating Lionfish? It is a native species there. Teaching people to be more exotic about the foods they eat might actually end up hurting the environment more in the long run; they might develop a taste for animals that are presently safe from human consumption. Having said that, if I ever live in the Caribbean I will gorge myself on lionfish. Cooking destroys the venom, by the way.
Pterois volitans are the issue in the Caribbean, and they are from the South Pacific, not Hawaii.
So – lionfish sushi isn't a good idea?
Sure! Just as good as puffer fish! It works best to use the spines as eating utensils.
The venom is only in the spines on certain fins. The flesh is not poisonous, and is often eaten more or less raw in a dish called ceviche. Even the spines aren't an issue unless you happen to have an allergy. Definitely worse than a bee sting, and more persistent, but not unbearable.
Americans are too finicky. An aboundance of food sources (meat and potatos) have restricted culinary advertures.
Lionfish can carry ciguatera toxin. Of 194 fish tested by the FDA from Florida waters, 42% had detectable levels of ciguatoxin and 26% were above the FDA's illness threshold. You don't want to get ciguatera!
Andrew Zimmerman. Ugh!
I want a mongoose to take care of the snakes .
Well, then you'll need something to take care of the rodents. Best thing to do is just not introduce exotics/invasives and nature has it's own way of balancing things out.
I want a honey badger, he don't care.
NO. I refuse to do any animal any harm, even as they destroy the entire ecosystem they live in during the process. No hunting. No weeding. No . No. No.
Eat corn tassles and pinecones only, drink only water.
What about all parasites? Many common parasites are animals. I'd bet that if you had a tapeworm in you you would be all for harming animals.
Veganism is totally illogical. Plants are alive too. By eating plants you are killing life. By drinking water you are killing life as water contains a lot of mirco-organisms. Eating seeds is killing life. The only way to be a true vegan without being a total contradiction is to be born and starve to death.
No. Each breath you take you inhale millions of micro-organisms of which your immune system kills most of.
Well, Jon,...the idea of being Vegan is not the ridiculous task of trying not to consume the living microbes in water and air, nor is it the failure to see seeds and plants as having life too... To understand the desire of Vegans is to understand their hope that they can help diminish the suffering of higher-order "thinking" animals (animals with recognizable brains, brain patterns, and emotions), by ending the current trend of keeping such animals captive and often slaughtered for the express purpose of rendering them into products for consumption...
This simply doesn't apply to your considerations... Vegans know full well that simply existing as a human each day destroys millions and millions of microbial beings, but these forms of life are not what concern them... What concerns them are the creatures we keep on farms and slaughter daily for our hungers, or hunt in the forest with our weapons, or imprison for the sake of their milk or eggs...or flay for their hides...
Damn, you just depressed the hell out of me :(
So vegans are OK with eating clams? They are not what you would consider thinking animals, as they have no recognizable brains.
Or just exist off Twinkies. No living thing has ever been used in the making of those.
Not true. The cream filling is not dairy cream, but suet, which is made from rendered fat of an animal.
How did this become an attack on vegans? Why do you even care what someone else doesn't eat?
It's not eating meat, dairy or eggs, that's it. Why would you think it is a religion that forbids harming anything? It has nothing to do with not using leather products or preventing death to animals. It's about FOOD.
There are some religions that include forms of veganism as a way to prevent harming life, but if anything, I'm not worried about someone who is forbidden to harm others.
People do it for health reasons, since cholesterol, for example, is only found in animal sources. That will prevent most forms of cardiovascular disease such as the common arteriosclerosis that results in myocardial infarctions, and so on.
Vegans are a part of my diet.