BATROUN, Lebanon — Blaring music filled the air and the smell of the grilling fish overwhelmed the small beach. Dozens of people gathered around the grill to watch as the juices bubbled and dripped from the lionfish’s skin.

The Lebanese NGO Diaries of the Ocean launched its “Eat the Lionfish” campaign at Colonel Beer, a brewery and restaurant in the seaside city of Batroun, on May 11 in an effort to raise awareness about the lionfish and the significant threat it poses to the Mediterranean Sea ecosystem.

The lionfish was first spotted in Lebanese waters in 2012 after entering from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. Jina Talj, the NGO’s founder, told Al-Monitor, “Since then, it has spread everywhere along the coastline, especially in rocky shores, and most of our shoreline is rocky. Like 80% of it is rocky, so there’s lionfish everywhere.”

Talj added that the lionfish has no natural predators in the Mediterranean and is able to rapidly reproduce because of that. The lionfish produces eggs all year and a single female can produce up to 2 million eggs in that time.