Learning English

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• Learn more about the environment

• Learn more about food

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• The Little Italy story
• How social media can affect the health of teenagers
• Mystery flying objects

Introduction

Invasive species are causing problems for nature all around the world so why don't we just eat them? Phil and Beth discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question

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

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary

resilient
strong in the face of problems

withstand
resist stress or attacks

choke out
use up the resources something needs to survive

renowned
be well-known for being good at something

outreach
the work an organisation does to publicise their activities 

fisheries
A site or organisation where fish are bred or caught commercially

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Phil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Phil.

Beth
And I’m Beth.

Phil
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.

Beth
Tell me about it! Every time I plant something in my garden, squirrels dig it up. I’m getting really fed up with them.

Phil
Have you tried eating them?

Beth
Sorry, what? Eat the squirrels?

Phil
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.

Beth
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

Phil
Wow, those numbers all seem incredibly big – I mean it can’t be more than 10 times can it? 

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

Phil
Before that, let’s get back to your squirrel problem! There’ 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:

Myra Anubi
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.

Phil
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.

Beth
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.

Phil
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.

Beth
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.

Marisol Amaya
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.

Celso Sho
We have developed awareness for the restaurants to purchase it. We had a lot of outreach trying to erm show fisheries, the general public how to remove the spine, then that allows them actually eat the meat from the fish.

Phil
We heard the Belizean government asked renowned chefs to prepare lionfish dishes. ‘Renowned’ means to be well-known for being very good at something.

Beth
Celso Sho talked about outreach work. Outreach is where an organisation brings their work to people through events or publicity.

Phi
Fisheries are either the business that breed and catch fish to sell, or the places where that happens.

Beth
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. I asked you by how much can a lionfish expand it’s stomach to eat more.

Phil
And I thought it was 10 times.

Beth
But you were wrong unfortunately, a lionfish can actually make its stomach 30 times bigger. That might help to explain why they are a 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.

Phil
Yes, you could say that it can withstand a lot of damage – it can cope with it.

Beth
If one plant chokes out another, then it takes away the resources needed to live.

Phil
If you are renowned for something, then you are famous for what you do.

Beth
Outreach is how organisations bring their work to people.

Phil
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 any invasive species near you that you might want to eat. See you next time!

Beth
Bye!