The Lionfish Effect

The Indo-Pacific lionfish is the highest-profile marine invasive species in the world. In The Bahamas, lionfish have developed particularly high population densities and are thought to pose a significant threat to the nation’s marine biodiversity and native fisheries given their insatiable appetite for other fish. Differing dominant narratives surrounding the lionfish issue in The Bahamas show that this invasive fish is not only an environmental issue, but also an undoubtedly political one. In this book, author Shireen Rahimi explores the dominant discourses surrounding perspectives of the lionfish invasion and efforts to promote their killing and consumption in The Bahamas, as well as how different groups there (including foreign tourists, Bahamian nationals, and Haitian immigrants) encounter and relate to these invasive animals. The issue of lionfish reveals how societies are adapting to novel ecosystems given new understandings of the human role in driving large-scale planetary change, and how these adaptations are mediated by class, race, and the flow of power.