

Cobra Effect: Lionfish-style - kaptain
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/science/earth/10fish.html

======
blackboxxx
I don't like the editorial slant on the title kaptain. You're declaring it a
bad idea when you likely don't have anywhere near the credentials to make such
a call.

Either we continue to eat the same popular fish out of existance, or we can
try and eat overpopulated predators like the Lionfish.

It makes sense to try an idea before we condemn it.

~~~
js2
_There are risks to whetting America’s appetite. Marketing an invasive species
could make it so popular that “individuals would raise or release the fish”
where they did not already exist, Ms. Fellows said, potentially exacerbating
the problem; tilapia were originally imported into Latin America for weed and
bug control, but commercialization helped the species spread far more widely
than intended._

------
spatten
Ideas like this always reminds me of the old lady who swallowed a fly, which
is such a powerful metaphor for almost any time we try to control invasive
species.

Creating a demand for a product is a powerful force, but it sure is hard to
control once it has been established.

P.S. Here's the link to the cobra effect article from yesterday:
<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Cobra_effect>

------
brianbreslin
I think this idea could be applied to lots of species. Maybe they put a
regulation on farming, free reign on fishing. In Florida there is a big
problem with pythons in the Everglades that came from people's homes where
they were pets.

