First the State of New Jersey has found an "alien" species of catfish in the Delaware Raritan Canal. The flathead catfish, "which are normally found west of the Appalachian Mountains" "could devastate native catfish, sunfish and some sturgeon populations." The New Jersey bureaucrats tell us that the "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the flathead as its highest priority among invasive animal species". We are warned that, "Flatheads are known to consume large amounts of shad during spawning season." Wow!

This news flash from New Jersey was followed by an article in The Christian Science Monitor warning us that Maryland now has snakehead fish (called "Frankenfish" ala Boris Karlof) in the Potomac River and mute swans in the Chesapeake Bay. We are told that snakeheads will devastate Potomac "gamefish" (especially bass), and that mute swans are devastating Chesapeake Bay submergent (underwater) plantings. Where to begin?

Flathead catfish have existed for eons in North America. They come and go in watersheds for various reasons (climate changes, water quality, dams, well-intentioned citizens, etc.) and they have been in and west of the Appalachians for hundreds of years. A good friend did his Masters Thesis on flatheads in West Virginia long ago. Last time I looked "native catfish and sunfish" were doing just fine in all those areas. Their impact on shad may be a limiting factor in New Jersey but other fish also eat shad and the sum of their impacts is what should concern us. Regardless, if New Jersey is worried, then by all means NEW JERSEY should do what they feel is the right thing for New Jersey. What is this hokum about the US Fish and Wildlife Service "listing" priorities among "invasive animal species" that are little more than animals that have been here for eons and now inhabit somewhere that they weren't thought to be a few years ago? That is a State concern, but this article infers that the federal bureaucrats are concerned and willing to help by taking over. Indeed, they may be the only answer to; what was that question again?

The same things go for the snakehead and mute swans in Maryland. The US Fish and Wildlife Service failed to list snakeheads (from China) as Injurious Wildlife for decades. Therefore they were imported with abandon. Now that they are being "released" by restaurant owners and aquarium owners into ponds (as goldfish have been for over a century) and have become established in the Potomac River we are asked to conclude that the same agency that let them in is now the one best-suited to get rid of them. That is plain silly. If snakeheads persist and more are released by "sensitive and caring" children and others as is sure to happen, we should look to the States where they occur to decide whether to spend State funds for controls (i.e. kill the "poor" things) or include them in the fishing regulations and let fishermen enjoy catching and eating them. As for mute swans that have been here for over 200 years and are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, lots of folks like to see them and do not want them eradicated. The State of Maryland and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have supported the introduction (and truth be known the drafting) of legislation to take away Federal protection from mute swans because they are "non-native." Actually it is because they eat grasses the bureaucrats have been unable to get started in the Chesapeake so they "should" be killed if they interfere with bureaucrats' plans. Remember the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service have approved the EPA permit to allow the US Army Corps of Engineers to routinely dump (for 20 years) vile, poisonous, and toxic sludge from the DC water system through a National Park into the Potomac River (right under the nose of the Maryland government that is so worried about snakeheads) onto the only nesting site of the Endangered Shortnose sturgeon in the Potomac! I guess the Federal bureaucrats will do a better job of protecting New Jersey sturgeon from flathead catfish though. Of course, if this same bunch of bureaucrats thinks it is best for our environment to also become mute swan-free (instead of managing their numbers and distribution) it must be for our own good too.