Daniela Berson
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has a unique approach to curbing the snakehead fish population in the Potomac River: holding fishing contests.

Joseph Love, Tidal Bass Program Manager with the MDNR, said that people can catch the snakeheads with rods, spears, even bows and arrows.

“The best time to really prevent a species from having a negative impact on our ecosystem is to try and harvest or remove as much of it as possible, particularly when it first becomes established,” Love said.

The MDNR is holding a few contests to encourage residents to catch and kill snakeheads, including an angler’s log where people can submit pitcures and the size of their catch.

“I actually just learned that someone may have caught a world record snakehead from the Potomac just a couple of weeks ago,” Love said.

Snakeheads are an invasive species with sharp teeth and slimy skin that have been eating native Potomac fish in recent years.

But their population is expanding even further north, mostly due to their resiliency in extreme conditions.

Snakeheads can survive in as little as an inch of water, sometimes burying themselves in sand banks near rivers.

Love also stressed the importance of killing the snakeheads once they’re caught – it’s illegal to transport a living snakehead.

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