MARYLAND - The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have announced the continuation of a northern snakehead tagging program to incentivize removal of invasive fish.
Up to 500 tags are set to be put on snakeheads from Gunpowder River, upper Chesapeake Bay tributaries, and Mattawoman and Nanjemoy creeks of Potomac River.
Those who harvest a tagged snakehead can receive a prize of $10 for a yellow tag or $200 for a blue tag.The phone number to report the tag number will be available on the tag itself.Anglers will then reportedly be asked that an emailed picture of the harvested fish be sent to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Qualifying fish cannot be returned to the water and must be harvested with a tag number reported in 2024.
The Department of Natural Resources says the program aids biologists in measuring snakehead harvesting in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Watershed has seen a spike in the invasive species’ populations since they were first discovered in the Potomac River in 2014. Anglers who harvest them for food consider them to be a delicacy.
More information on snakeheads is available on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website.
