Invasive species: Why not eat them? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute.

English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Phil. And I'm Beth.

Today, we're going to be talking about an interesting approach

to the problem of invasive species.

When animals or plants are introduced to new areas, they can be dangerous

for existing wildlife.

Tell me about it!

Every time I plant something in my garden, squirrels dig it up.

I'm getting really fed up with them.

Have you tried eating them?

Sorry, what?

Eat the squirrels?

That's right.

One of the simplest ways to deal with invasive species is just to eat them.

In this programme, we'll be hearing about initiatives in the UK

and Belize that are trying to get people to improve things

using their stomachs.

OK, but before that I've got a question for you, Phil.

Lionfish are aggressive predators which hunt over

50 different varieties of fish.

To help them do this, their stomachs can expand,

but by how much?

Is it, a)

10 times its original size; b) 30 times or c) 50 times?

Wow, those numbers all seem incredibly big.

I mean, it can't be more than ten times, can it?

Well, I will reveal the answer later in the programme.

Before that, let's get back to your squirrel problem.

There's a restaurant in London that offers squirrel kebabs.

They specialise in food made from invasive species.

So if that's not to your taste,

you could try Japanese knotweed beer. This invasive plant has caused a lot

of problems in the UK. But just

why is it so damaging? Host of BBC

World Service Programme,

'People Fixing the World',

Myra Anubi explains.

Japanese knotweed is an extremely invasive plant that arrived in Europe

from Japan over a century ago, this super weed doesn't just grow fast,

it has root systems that are so strong and resilient,

that they can withstand molten lava, choke out surrounding plants

and cause a lot of damage to buildings.

Myra tells us that Japanese knotweed is 'resilient'.

If something or someone is resilient,

then it means that it or they can resist attempts to stop them.

And another word for resist is 'withstand'.

If you can withstand an attack or damage, then you don't let it affect you.

We heard that Japanese knotweed's roots can withstand lava from a volcano.

We also heard that Japanese knotweed can 'choke out'

other plants. By this,

we mean that it takes the space and the resources such as light

and water that they need to survive.

  And knotweed is not

the only invasive species problem with a tasty solution. In Belize,

since 2008 lionfish have had a massive impact

on coral reefs and native wildlife.

They can eat four times as much as native species.

BBC World Service Programme

'People Fixing the World' went to investigate. Here's Marisol

Amaya talking to Celso

Sho from Marine Conservation NGO 'Blue Ventures' about attempts

by the Belizean government to get people to eat lionfish.

With a big campaign slogan

'Eat the lion', they got renowned chefs to prepare it

in exotic ways to raise awareness that eating lionfish was

both tasty and helping the environment.

We have developed awareness for the restaurants to purchase it. Then

we had a lot, of outreach trying to show

fisheries, the general public, how to remove the spine,

then that allows them to actually eat the meat from the fish.

We heard the Belizean government asked renowned chefs to prepare

lionfish dishes, 'renowned' means to be well known for being very good

at something.

Celso Sho talked about outreach work. 'Outreach' is

where an organisation brings their work to people

through events or publicity.

'Fisheries' are either the businesses that breed and

catch fish to sell or the places where that happens.

So, in Belize people are being shown attractive ways to eat lionfish,

and speaking of lionfish and eating,

I think it's time I revealed the answer to our quiz, Phil.

I asked you by how much

can a lionfish expand its stomach to eat more.

And I thought it was 10 times,

but you were wrong unfortunately. A lionfish can actually make its

stomach 30 times bigger - that might help to explain

why they are such a danger to native Belizean fish.

OK, now let's recap the vocabulary that we've looked at today.

If something is resilient,

then it's very hard to damage.

Yes, you could say that

it could withstand a lot of damage

- it can cope with it.

If one plant chokes out another,

then it takes away the resources needed to live.

If you are renowned for something,

then you're famous for what you do.

Outreach is how organisations bring their work to people.

Fisheries are the companies that catch and sell fish or the places where they do it.

That's all we've got time for today.

Maybe you might want to see if there are any invasive species near you

that you might want to eat.

See you next time! Bye!

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