FAST FACTS:
Scott.Noll@wreg.com
(Brinkley, AR 3/20/2009) It's nicknamed the frankenfish, and it's showing up in creeks here in the Mid South.
The northern snakehead, has earned a reputation worldwide as a "pit bull with fins".
So should we really be worried?
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says yes.
It's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and kill the predator.
Sings posted along the Piney Creek warn people of the snakefish eradication program.
All along the creek, crews are using chemicals they say will kill every fish in the water, in hopes of wiping out the snakehead.
From its razor-sharp teeth to its ability to slither on dry land, experts worry the northern snakehead could change the face of waters along the Mississippi River for generations.
[TAKE SOT AT: 34:55 TO: 34:58 DURATION:0:03] {***sot full***} [CG :2 Lines\mike armstrong\ar game & fish commission] [CG :3 Lines - Event Bar with 2 Lines\Only On 3\Snakehead Eradication\ Spring Creek Near Brinkley, AR] "This is one chance to put pandora back in her box," explained Mike Armstrong, Chief of Fisheries for the Game and Fish Commission.
Experts suspect the fish got into the Piney Creek watershed, after escaping from a Lee County fish farm in 2001, before it was illegal to keep snakeheads in the US.
The fear now, if it's not stopped, this predator will spread up and down the Mississippi, preying on other sportfish...and overrunning native species.
"Once it becomes established it's there until something changes, that it goes to extinction," said Armstrong.
For the next nine days, workers will be treating 39 miles of the creek with the chemical rotenone.
It's expected to kill all the fish in the water, in hopes of wiping out the snakehead.
The project's pricetag is $750,000.
- Snakehead fish, which can "walk" on land found in Arkansas
- Eradication project underway in Lee and Monroe Counties
- Cost of project expected to be three-quarters of a million bucks
Scott.Noll@wreg.com
(Brinkley, AR 3/20/2009) It's nicknamed the frankenfish, and it's showing up in creeks here in the Mid South.
The northern snakehead, has earned a reputation worldwide as a "pit bull with fins".
So should we really be worried?
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says yes.
It's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and kill the predator.
Sings posted along the Piney Creek warn people of the snakefish eradication program.
All along the creek, crews are using chemicals they say will kill every fish in the water, in hopes of wiping out the snakehead.
From its razor-sharp teeth to its ability to slither on dry land, experts worry the northern snakehead could change the face of waters along the Mississippi River for generations.
[TAKE SOT AT: 34:55 TO: 34:58 DURATION:0:03] {***sot full***} [CG :2 Lines\mike armstrong\ar game & fish commission] [CG :3 Lines - Event Bar with 2 Lines\Only On 3\Snakehead Eradication\ Spring Creek Near Brinkley, AR] "This is one chance to put pandora back in her box," explained Mike Armstrong, Chief of Fisheries for the Game and Fish Commission.
Experts suspect the fish got into the Piney Creek watershed, after escaping from a Lee County fish farm in 2001, before it was illegal to keep snakeheads in the US.
The fear now, if it's not stopped, this predator will spread up and down the Mississippi, preying on other sportfish...and overrunning native species.
"Once it becomes established it's there until something changes, that it goes to extinction," said Armstrong.
For the next nine days, workers will be treating 39 miles of the creek with the chemical rotenone.
It's expected to kill all the fish in the water, in hopes of wiping out the snakehead.
The project's pricetag is $750,000.
