Editing Invasive species (section)

=== By using them as food ===
{{further|List of edible invasive species}}

The practice of eating invasive species to reduce their populations has been explored. In 2005 Chef [[Bun Lai]] of [[Miya's]] Sushi in [[New Haven, Connecticut]] created the first menu dedicated to invasive species. At that time, half the items on the menu were conceptual because those invasive species were not yet commercially available.<ref name=r1>{{cite news |title=The Invasivore's Dilemma |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/1922351/invasivores-dilemma |access-date=May 28, 2019 |magazine=Outside |last=Jacobsen |first=Rowan |date=March 24, 2014 |archive-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528211949/https://www.outsideonline.com/1922351/invasivores-dilemma |url-status=live}}</ref> By 2013, Miya's offered invasive aquatic species such as Chesapeake [[blue catfish]], Florida [[lionfish]], Kentucky [[silver carp]], Georgia [[cannonball jellyfish]], and invasive plants such as [[Japanese knotweed]] and [[autumn olive]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Invasive Species Menu of a World-Class Chef |journal=[[Scientific American]] |volume=309 |issue=3 |pages=40–43 |date=September 1, 2013 |last=Lai |first=Bun |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0913-40 |pmid=24003552 |bibcode=2013SciAm.309c..40L}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/indulge-invasive-species-restaurants-across-country-180957899/ |title=Bite Back Against Invasive Species at Your Next Meal |author=Billock, Jennifer |work=Smithsonian Magazine |date=February 9, 2016 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=March 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322193509/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/indulge-invasive-species-restaurants-across-country-180957899/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-we-really-eat-invasive-species-into-submission/?redirect=1 |title=Can We Really Eat Invasive Species into Submission? |work=Scientific American |author=Snyder, Michael |date=May 19, 2017 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801204428/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-we-really-eat-invasive-species-into-submission/?redirect=1 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kolbert |first=Elizabeth |date=2 December 2012 |title=Alien Entrées |work=New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/10/alien-entrees |url-status=live |access-date=13 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018202041/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/10/alien-entrees |archive-date=18 October 2019}}</ref> [[Joe Roman]], a [[Harvard]] and [[University of Vermont]] conservation biologist and recipient of the [[Rachel Carson]] Environmental award, runs a website named "Eat The Invaders".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bio |url=http://www.joeroman.com/new/bio/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528213031/http://www.joeroman.com/bio/ |archive-date=28 May 2019 |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=Joe Roman |date=March 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eat The Invaders — Fighting Invasive Species, One Bite At A Time! |url=http://eattheinvaders.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519015542/http://eattheinvaders.org/ |archive-date=19 May 2019 |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=eattheinvaders.org}}</ref><ref name=r1/> In the 21st century, organizations including Reef Environmental Educational Foundation and the Institute for Applied Ecology have published cookbooks and recipes using invasive species as ingredients.<ref>{{cite book |author=Parks |first1=Mary |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44139470-the-green-crab-cookbook |title=The Green Crab Cookbook |last2=Thanh |first2=Thai |publisher=Green Crab R&d |year=2019 |isbn=9780578427942 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004001822/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44139470-the-green-crab-cookbook |archive-date=October 4, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.reef.org/products/lionfish-cookbook-2nd-edition |title=Lionfish Cookbook 2nd Edition &#124; Reef Environmental Education Foundation |website=www.reef.org |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528212729/https://www.reef.org/products/lionfish-cookbook-2nd-edition |url-status=live}}</ref> Invasive plant species have been explored as a sustainable source of beneficial phytochemicals and edible protein.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Iyer |first1=Ajay |last2=Bestwick |first2=Charles S. |last3=Duncan |first3=Sylvia H. |last4=Russell |first4=Wendy R. |date=2021-02-15 |title=Invasive Plants Are a Valuable Alternate Protein Source and Can Contribute to Meeting Climate Change Targets |journal=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |volume=5 |doi=10.3389/fsufs.2021.575056 |doi-access=free |hdl=2164/15875 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Iyer |first1=Ajay |last2=Guerrier |first2=Lisa |last3=Leveque |first3=Salomé |last4=Bestwick |first4=Charles S. |last5=Duncan |first5=Sylvia H. |last6=Russell |first6=Wendy R. |date=2022 |title=High throughput method development and optimised production of leaf protein concentrates with potential to support the agri-industry |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11694-021-01136-w |journal=Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1007/s11694-021-01136-w |s2cid=244407388 |hdl=2164/19275 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nuñez |first1=Martin A. |last2=Kuebbing |first2=Sara |last3=Dimarco |first3=Romina D. |last4=Simberloff |first4=Daniel |date=December 2012 |title=Invasive Species: to eat or not to eat, that is the question |url=https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00250.x |journal=Conservation Letters |language=en |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=334–341 |doi=10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00250.x |bibcode=2012ConL....5..334N |hdl=11336/198362 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Proponents of eating invasive organisms argue that humans have the ability to eat away any species that it has an appetite for, pointing to the many animals which humans have been able to hunt to extinction—such as the [[Caribbean monk seal]], and the [[passenger pigeon]]. They further point to the success that [[Jamaica]] has had in significantly decreasing the population of [[lionfish]] by encouraging the consumption of the fish.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/invasive-lionfish-kings-caribbean-may-met-match-011600208.html |title=Invasive Lionfish, the Kings of the Caribbean, May Have Met Their Match |date=January 24, 2014 |work=Yahoo News |last=Conniff |first=Richard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127033047/https://news.yahoo.com/invasive-lionfish-kings-caribbean-may-met-match-011600208.html |archive-date=January 27, 2014}}</ref> Skeptics point out that once a foreign species has entrenched itself in a new place—such as the [[Indo-Pacific]] [[lionfish]] that has now virtually taken over the waters of the Western [[Atlantic Ocean |Atlantic]], [[Caribbean]] and [[Gulf of Mexico]]—eradication is almost impossible. Critics argue that encouraging consumption might have the unintended effect of spreading harmful species even more widely.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/world-on-a-plate/2015/feb/06/cooking-cant-solve-the-invasive-threat |title=Cooking can't solve the threat of invasive species |author=Bryce, Emma |date=February 6, 2015 |access-date=October 16, 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |archive-date=October 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017201839/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/world-on-a-plate/2015/feb/06/cooking-cant-solve-the-invasive-threat |url-status=live}}</ref>