Feds Charge Two With Selling Snakeheads, Walking Catfish

Potomac River guide Steve Chaconas often catches snakeheads.

Here’s a story with a happy ending regarding invasive aquatic species--- maybe.

Two Michigan men are facing federal charges and a possibility of up to five years in prison and fines up to $250,000 for the illegal sale of snakeheads and walking catfish.

At a primitive, gut level, I’d like to lock ‘em up and throw away the key, same as I would like to do with those who intentionally start wildfires and those who uglify our lands and waters with their trash.

Now, here’s my question to officials: Why did it take you so long? According to the timeline in the story, the investigation started in 2009, with a confidential informant buying illegal fish from these guys.

And here’s my concern: Between then and now, how many snakeheads and walking catfish did they sell to others, who might have released them?

Read the article here. 

And in a related story, a snakehead has been captured in British Columbia, after being sighted in a park pond several weeks before.