Fellows mentioned in this story: Mark Noguchi, Cohort VII

Projects mentioned in this story: Chef Hui

From Conservation International:

On the Hawaiian Islands, the most remote archipelago on earth, seafood is a way of life. 

Yet the islands have historically imported — at great cost — more than half of the seafood consumed there. 

In a bid to decrease dependence on seafood imports, the government introduced several species of fish to the islands’ waters in the 1950s and 1960s — including a little bluestripe snapper known locally as ta‘ape.

It didn’t go according to plan. 

“Little did they know the ta‘ape would become so abundant that it would spread throughout the entire Hawaiian archipelago,” said Jhana Young, who manages the Hawai‘i-based sustainable seafood program at Conservation International. Once established, the ta‘ape competed with native fish for food and disrupted the local fishing industry, she said.

Continue reading at conservation.org.