Who Will Save the Snakehead?

The Wash Times carries this serio-comic story about Westerners filing a petition to place the northern snakehead fish--an "invasive species" that has created a panic in Maryland and nearby environs--on the endangered species list.

A band of 13 commissioners from Western counties who have filed to seek protection for a rare new species: the northern snakehead fish, also known as the "Frankenfish."

[Petitioner Alan Gardner] understands that the carnivorous, Asian-bred fish not only can swim but also crawl across land and wreck havoc on local wildlife. And no, he lives nowhere near the Potomac River, where the snakehead makes its home -- and that's the point.

"As I read about this fish in the Potomac, I thought, 'You know, that sounds like an interesting proposition,'" says Mr. Gardner, a commissioner in southwestern Utah's Washington County.

"I discussed it with some other commissioners, and we thought that this could really let people in the East know how the Endangered Species Act works and how it can affect the lives of everyday people," he says.

Sure, saving the Frankenfish is preposterous. But not much more so than some previous attempts to list species found in the West, says Roger Mancebo, a Pershing County, Nev., commissioner.

Mr. Mancebo cites the recent effort to win protection for the sage grouse, a bird so common that it's hunted in 15 states.

Whole thing here.

Reason Managing Editor Jesse Walker wrote memorably about the snakehead--and just how tasty a treat it is--a while back here. And Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey has discussed the whole invasive species bogeyman here and here.