Good question. The only reasonable response I can give is to put you in our situation.
How would you feel about a non native apex preditor fish being released into your favorite bass hole? Think about this....the snakehead lays over 4000+ eggs a year and guards their fry untill they are over 6 inches long. How many seasons do you think it would take before your favorite bass hole would be taken over by snakeheads?
This is the delima we are faceing in S. Florida. The snakehead is not just another exotic fish like the butterfly peacock bass or the myan cyclid. It does not just coexist with other fish....It kills them. It kills anything that moves including small fish (bass) and crayfish, but occasionally eats a wide variety of prey including turtles, toads, lizards, snakes, and insects . It takes over an area and kills anything that comes near it. I have actually seen it launch itself up on the bank and strike a duck.
I'am not saying it's doom and gloom for our bass, however there is a canal system called Markham Park that is loaded with snakeheads. Only a levee is keeping the snakeheads from getting into the everglades. Once the snakehead makes it to the everglades(and it will) then we could see a dramatic decline in the food supply for the native fish species, and eventually a decline in the bass population.
Here is how the FWC wants anglers to help:
The Florida Wildlife Comission is encourageing anglers to kill all non native fish caught with the exception for the butterfly peacock bass. Updated as of 9-11-2011.
http://myfwc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2049/~/exotic-fish---what-to-do-with-a-snakehead-or-other-exotic-fish%3F
