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MYRTLE BEACH (WPDE) -- An invasion is underway off the coast of the Carolinas. An invasive species of fish is killing off many other popular species and now a federal agency has come up with a unique idea for stopping it.

The invader is called the Lionfish and its population is growing out of control along the East Coast. The government's solution to lionfish? Encourage people to eat them.

Waterscapes Restaurant at Myrtle Beach's Marina Inn has lionfish on the menu, when they can get it. Chef James Clark says the fish is easy to cook and popular with guests. "It's an extremely mild-flavored fish, it really, really tastes great. But it's not so mild that it won't stand up to some bold flavors."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is encouraging fishermen and divers to kill the fish and chefs to offer it on their menus, because lionfish feed on popular species like young grouper and snapper and have no natural predators. Chef Clark thinks it's a great idea, "So I think it's a fish that it's time we sort of eradicate it and try to eat it out of existence."

The problem with going after the lionfish is... they sting. "It's a lot of intense pain is what it is. It will not kill you or whatever but it is a lot of intense pain," said diving instructor Larry Hilliard of Nu Horizons Dive Shop.

Hilliard says lionfish are taking over the reefs off our coast and something has to be done about them. "If you don't eliminate something, it's going to continue to grow."

The lionfish is native to the Pacific and no one knows for sure how it got to our coast. Experts think a few of them may have been accidentally released from a private aquarium in Miami during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Chef Clark says he likes having lionfish on the menu, not just because it tastes good, but because it has sort of an edgy danger to it. "I think it has a little bit of mystique to it."

Scientists say lionfish densities off the Carolina coast increased 700 percent in just four years.

Chef Clark is encouraging other restaurants to offer the lionfish, as part of a sustainability initiative... eat the lionfish, preserve fish resources.

Click here for Lionfish recipes

(This story courtesy WPDE NewsChannel 15 and CarolinaLive.com.)