How an Invasive Species Turned Into a Delicacy

A new entree has recently expanded across many restaurant menus in the southeastern United States, hoping to aid management efforts and reduce environmental destruction caused by invasive lionfish in the Caribbean. 

Invasive species are organisms not native to an ecosystem that causes harm to other species, habitats, or human health. Species are more likely to become invasive if they reproduce quickly, spread aggressively, and take advantage of new habitats. There are many examples of invasive species throughout history, and most are the unfortunate result of human expansion and global connectivity. Animals are often introduced purposefully or by accident from travel, shipping, and as a means of population control. 

Introduced species outcompete native populations for vital resources and habitat, restructuring food webs that result in cascading ecosystem effects. The success of an invasive species in a foreign environment relies on the lack of natural predators in the new ecosystem, allowing that species to dominate the native organisms. Invasive species also contribute to diseases preventing successful reproduction and altering entire ecosystems. 

There are invasive species worldwide, and many environmental scientists are working diligently to eradicate them out of native ecosystems, but doing so is a monumental task. Many invasive species are small, fast reproducing organisms that rapidly spread over large areas. Tactics used to mitigate their potential spread include using traps, reward incentives, and repurposing their use for consumption purposes. Trapping and reward incentives have proven useful solutions in island nations and small land areas, but larger invasions are harder to mitigate adequately. An interesting tactic for combating the invasive lionfish is developing a productive fishery for their commercial use as a product in restaurants and consumption. 

Lionfish are reef fish native to the Indo-Pacific ocean characterized by colorful red and white striped bodies, featherlike fins, and venomous spines. The species is incredibly damaging to the Caribbean ecosystems because they are incredibly aggressive predatory fish that prey on anything they can catch. Without natural predators outside their native habitat, they have been able to dominate the top of the food chain quickly. Lionfish are a particularly popular aquarium fish with a large market in the United States. 

The behavior of the lionfish in the Atlantic changed with their new habitat, and they act more aggressively than their counterparts in the Indo-Pacific. They are responsible for massive tolls on reef species like grouper and snapper. They can spawn every four days and release eggs that travel through the Caribbean currents. Atlantic populations are estimated to be up to 1,000 individuals per 1 acre at their highest densities, changing management goals. 

Dealing with lionfish can be difficult due to venomous spines that require medical attention. Divers must use extreme caution to avoid stings and use protective gear and fishing poles to collect lionfish. Tactics for removal from local waters have resulted in some success. Rapid repopulation of the fish incited a new management avenue to convert the species into a fishery commodity for restaurants to market as a local delicacy. 

Fishermen first realized you could eat the lionfish during culling events in south Florida, and they were delicious too. Modifying management efforts into a sustainable fishery means creating employment opportunities for small-scale fishermen, volunteer culling opportunities, fishing competitions, and a constant resource for consumer lionfish products. This method of invasive management is slowly gaining traction in the southeastern United States, and maybe one day, you will get to taste your very own lionfish. 

Correlation Between Marijuana Legalization and Increased DUIs

Marijuana and the use of Cannabis have long been touted to offer certain health benefits for the immunocompromised and chronically ill, except it is still illegal in most of the world. Countries like the Netherlands, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Spain, and a few others have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana among rising public popularity. The main psychoactive component of cannabis is THC which produces the high sensation and can be inhaled or ingested. Users exposed to THC experience relaxing effects, including heightened sensory perception, euphoria, and an altered perception of time. THC can also be directly ingested, delaying the effects by more than 30 minutes. The effects of cannabis usually last up to 3 hours, although evidence of THC can remain in the body for days after initial use. 

Each person reacts differently to THC ingestion, but increased popularity and legalization around the world have contributed to concerns about its impact on driver safety. In the United States, more than 1.5 million people are arrested for driving under the influence each year. Studies in Colorado suggest an increase of marijuana-related DUIs by more than 48% last year, with an increasing trend over the last five years. The rising frequency DUIs is concerning because a large percentage may correlate with areas that have legalized marijuana. In recent years, the same study also identified increased frequency in marijuana-impaired drivers’ roles in deadly car accidents. 

Assessing impairment from a marijuana user is much harder than in individuals under the influence of alcohol. Despite recent increases in legalization and recreational use of marijuana, law enforcement has yet to identify an accurate and reliable test to determine a driver’s level of intoxication. The equivalent test for alcohol impairment is the breathalyzer test used to determine the blood alcohol content as it corresponds to legal limits. There are blood tests used for THC identification, but they do not provide an accurate assessment of an individual’s level of impairment because of the chemical’s varying effects with each person. New developments in law enforcement have focussed on creating behavioral tests to assess individual impairment, similar to methods used to confirm alcohol intoxication. 

Developing accurate tests is vital for driver’s safety and the ability of law enforcement to assess impaired individuals. Regular marijuana users have produced blood profiles that indicate stores of THC can remain detectable in the blood for 30 days in some cases. These THC levels are often higher than local DUI limits, even though the individual has not recently ingested marijuana. 

Factors impacting DUI statistics include regional THC blood limits, driving laws, past offenses, and law enforcement discretion. The consequences of driving under the influence are also different depending on the region but can implicate an individual up to a year in jail. 

Understanding the use of marijuana as it impacts drivers’ abilities and law enforcement methods for impairment detection are quickly becoming an increasingly vital area of research. Investments will continue to increase as recreational use becomes legalized in other parts of the world.

Navy’s Accidental Water Contamination Affects Over 400k Hawai’i Residents

Recent water quality tests at containment facilities near Pearl Harbor on Oahu in late November uncovered extreme levels of petroleum fuel contamination, forcing the shutdown of a major well for island residents. The petroleum-contaminated water was recorded with more than 350 times the safe level of possible hydrocarbon contaminants forcing the shutdown on December 3rd.

Hundreds of military families in the impacted area were affected with reported cases of mouth and body sores, pet sickness, stomach issues, and other attributable illnesses. Preliminary concerns were first warranted when residents reported their water smelling and tasting like gasoline, corroborating the recent illnesses. This shocking public health threat has forced the relocation of at least 3,000 Pearl Harbor-Hickam military families and posed risks to several day cares, schools, and hundreds of businesses. 

Investigations into the contamination suggested wells were originally contaminated after jet fuel spilled into access tunnels on November 20th. The spill was immediately cleaned and responded to, but not before contaminants could leach through to underground water wells. 

Residents are rightly upset due to the Navy's knowledge about the spill, potential health threats, and their inability to take necessary preventative steps until a week after the initial fuel accident. Governor David Ige described the contamination as a crisis, and state health officials have since suspended activities at the Red Hill well and ordered the Navy to clean up all impacted water systems. 

The Navy has taken full responsibility for the accident and plans to clean up the petroleum spill by completely flushing the Red Hill well with more than 25 million gallons of clean drinking water before assessing other potentially affected systems. Nevertheless, the event has put a bad taste in many Hawaii residents’ mouths and added extreme caution in regards to the cleanliness and safety of their water. 

Closing the major well near the state’s capital Honolulu has also elicited a response from the state department telling residents to conserve water to mitigate potential future shortages. The Halawa well directly contributes water to more than 400k residents and local businesses, and the cleaning process is expected to take several weeks.

Biden’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Could Be a Step Towards Improving America’s Aging Water Infrastructure and Protecting It From Climate Change

In September of 2021, Vox released an article exploring the drinking water crisis impacting millions of people across the country. In this article, Li Zhou performs an in-depth case study on the drinking water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, specifically. The resident that Zhou interviewed has been using bottled water for cooking and drinking for years due to the city’s unsafe and frequently interrupted drinking water service. This past winter, a sudden period of extreme cold caused pipes to burst and left approximately 40,000 Jackson residents without access to water for over two weeks. Many cities around the United States are facing similar consequences of poor water infrastructure. A report from McKinsey found that, on average, anywhere from 14-18% of total daily treated, potable drinking water in the United States is lost due to leaking, with some water systems reporting much higher loss rates of over 60%. 

Water infrastructure in the United States is extremely outdated, with the average US water-network pipe being at least 45 years old and some cast-iron pipes being over 100 years old. Aside from the aging water infrastructure, the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change are expected to further strain drinking water supplies around the country and the world. Replacing water infrastructure is a massive but necessary project that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates will take $839 million/year to replace and monitor. However, the United States has historically been slow to adapt and invest in new technology to improve health, safety, and efficiency. 

Aside from improvements to the physical infrastructure, researchers have also argued that stronger enforcement of drinking water regulations is essential for improving the overall safety of drinking water in the United States. Many water systems around the country do not comply with requirements outlined in the Clean Water Act. However, they have been allowed to continue to operate due to inadequate enforcement of the Act. Another issue threatening drinking water supplies is the lack of regulations for discharging wastewater. Improper wastewater discharge can result in excessive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen entering waterways which causes algae blooms.

More recently, the House passed Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes a total of $1 trillion in funding to repair aging infrastructure, fund new climate initiatives, expand access to high-speed internet service, and more. The bill has specifically carved out $48 billion to fund water-related repairs, such as replacing lead pipes and studying emerging water contaminants. Individual states have quite a bit of freedom in determining how such funding will be spent. Still, the passing of this bill is a step in a positive direction towards improving the nation’s drinking water infrastructure. 

China Enters a Major International Climate Agreement

Chinese chemical companies must stop emitting HFC-23, a super-pollutant and an unwanted byproduct of the production of hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22. China and India dominate the global HFC-22 production, with 75% in 2017. China recently began enforcing the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. The agreement requires China and other countries to stop emitting HFC-23, which is 14,600 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere. 

In an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Chinese president Xi Jinping made a new climate commitment not to build any new coal-fired power projects abroad. China will also increase financial support for more green energy projects. The pledge came hours after United States President Joe Biden announced a plan to double financial aid to poorer nations to $11.4 billion by 2024 to help those countries switch to cleaner energy and cope with global warming’s worsening effects.

“We need to accelerate a transition to a green and low-carbon economy,” Xi said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly. “We will make every effort to meet these goals. China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad.”

The United Nations first targeted HFC-23 emissions in China in 2006, when a U.N. program known as the Clean Development Mechanism or CDM began incentivizing HCFC-22 producers to destroy their HFC-23 emissions. The program paid HCFC-22 producers in China and other developing countries emission reduction credits, traded with developed countries to meet their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. 

Although China has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ten companies in China built new HFC-22 capacity after April 2015 or are currently building new production facilities. In addition, three companies have also expanded or are in the process of expanding their HCFC-22 production capacity.

However, in another encouraging sign, the Bank of China said that it would no longer provide financing for new coal mining and coal power projects outside of China.