Reporting release of invasive species
 

So, I have started looking at Instagram. One of the pages I found was a topwater fisherman. Catching Peacock bass and snakeheads. I did some research and found that Peacocks were legally introduced.
Ok, cool, looks like a riot to catch one.

I also found that snakeheads were not. Legally introduced, but this guy ALWAYS releases the ones that he catches. He even makes a joke about it.

Am I being a jagoff, thinking about reporting him to the local FL authorities?:confused0024:

I don't think you would have a case. The regs are a little vague. They say it is illegal to have a snakehead in your possession and it is illegal to transport them anywhere. But then the FWL website says they are good tablefare. Not sure how you would know they are good tablefare if you can't have one in possession, yet the regulations say there is no daily limit on nonnative fish which the snakehead is. Kind of confusing right?

My suggestion, leave the guy alone. The snakehead is here to stay and him releasing them back in the water he caught them in isn't going to change that fact. So why screw with the guy especially when the regs don't say he has to toss them on the bank. Until FL has a clear regulation in place you're trying to start a fight for no good reason.

I watched a show a couple of months ago about some guys in FL who belong to an informal club of bass fishermen. They now go out and specifically target Snake heads and fillet them out and have fish frys and eat them. They claimed the snake heads are delicious. I think it was the Andrew Zimern show "Bizarre Foods". I agree with Flags that once those things are in a waterway, they are there to stay but these guys at least were making the best of a bad situation, helping the bass and getting some good eats.

Thanks Guys. Its confusing.
We want to be law abiding, but at the same time if we don't do what we can to help the environment and protect what is there already.
Are we really doing what we can?

Especially with this guy publicly flaunting the law by having them in his possession then releasing them back into the water.
I mean, we respect the law or we don't. Or is that too black and white, with not enough shading of gray

To satisfy yourself, why don't you talk to a WCO and asked him or her their opinion on what you should do. That would be the opinion I would follow.

Thanks, OT.

Just a bit of information from my trips down there. Snakeheads are illegal to possess alive, if you do catch them you have to kill them if you are going to possess them. Catch and release has been going on for a few years so you would he hard pressed to find someone to prosecute this. There are even guides down there that specialize in fishing for them along with peacocks and regular largemouths/smallmouths. It is what it is and trust me if it was a show and illegal, thousands of folks down in Fl would have already been calling it in.