In Florida, they learned how to make skin from fish: this can solve a long-standing state problem
An avid diver saw how lionfish were hurting the populations of native tropical fish in Florida, and decided to help deal with this problem in a rather original way. TheGuardian.
Aarav Chavda has been diving off the coast of Florida for many years. Each time, he became increasingly depressed by the ever-growing emptiness of the underwater world, as colorful fish species and coral reefs continued to disappear.
A major reason for this extinction is the lionfish, an invasive species that has flourished in recent decades in Atlantic waters from Florida to the Caribbean, and in many other places from Brazil and Mexico to the Mediterranean.
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Lionfish have no natural predators outside of their natural range - in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Red Sea - and are all-consuming, devouring approximately 79% of young marine life within five weeks of entering the coral reef system. “You can see this impact on the reefs when you dive now – they are less vibrant, less diverse,” Chavda said.
“We know there are solutions to some problems—like coral-friendly sunscreens that help protect both reefs and divers—but no one has been able to do anything about lionfish,” he said.
So Chavda and a team of environmentally conscious scuba diving enthusiasts set out to take action by founding Inversa, a company that turns lionfish into a new product: fish skin. On June 8, World Oceans Day, the team was recognized as one of nine finalists in the Global Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge (Oric).
Chavda, 27, and his childhood friend from Texas, Roland Salatino, founded a leather company in Florida. They process fish skins by duplicating them with drying agents and dyeing them before selling them to partner companies to make high-quality products, including wallets, belts and bags. Fish skin is thin, but due to the transverse structure of the fibers, it is stronger than many other types of skin.
Each skin can save up to 70 native reef fish, Chavda says.
Fish skin is also more environmentally friendly than traditional animal skin, which tends to require grazing on vast pastures, resulting in soil degradation and increased carbon emissions.
Inversa does not hunt lionfish on its own. Instead, she trains and encourages mostly poor fishermen and women living in remote areas to catch this predatory fish.
“In many geographies, especially in the low-income Caribbean, there is no market for lionfish at all – and so these fish are destroying the coral reefs that are the basis of these fishing cooperatives’ livelihoods. But the fishermen do nothing about it,” Chavda said.
“They could hunt lionfish, but that takes time, which means they can't hunt anything else. "They will spend their precious time not on lionfish, but on lobster and sea bass - so this is very unfortunate," he added.
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The Inversa project, which impressed the Oric judges, aims to solve this problem. The company proposes to create well-equipped fishing cooperatives in Quintana Roo, Mexico, insuring the risks of fishermen. They will be paid 100% money for the catch of lionfish.
“We're really empowering consumers and fashion by doing something for the planet, and we're also empowering diving communities in fishing cooperatives across the Caribbean to do something for themselves,” Chavda said.
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