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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With John Surrick

Aired September 22, 2002 - 09:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Maryland, the voracious, land- walking, yes, land-walking snakehead fish has learned a little lesson about just who's on top of the food chain here. Human beings, folks. After a summer long battle, Maryland officials are declaring victory. They have poisoned those snakehead fish out of existence in a pond. They shouldn't have been there in the first place.
John Surrick is a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. He's on the line with us now to tell us about this victory. Are you declaring victory yet?

JOHN SURRICK, MD. DEPT. OF NATURAL RESOURCES SPOKESMAN: Good morning, Miles. We think -- we're relatively confident that we have eliminated all the fish from the pond in Crofton.

O'BRIEN: Relatively confident, you sound like you're hedging a little bit.

SURRICK: Well, we have done some sampling there. We found no live fish. Practically, scientifically, the chemical should have eliminated everything. But we are not quite declaring victory yet. We're going to wait and come back in the fall, and when the vegetation is brought back, and do some more intensive sampling. But there is no evidence at all of any fish remaining in that pond.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's look at the fish in question here, the snakehead fish, seemingly benign as we see the fish there swimming through the water, but these were introduced to the pond -- they're a native of Asia -- and a breeding pair was introduced to the pond. Do we know who did it?

SURRICK: Yes. We conducted an investigation and we identified the individual who said that he put two fish in the pond.

O'BRIEN: And will he be charged with anything? Is there any charge that applies?

SURRICK: It's a misdemeanor in Maryland, and the statute of limitations has expired so he will not be charged.

O'BRIEN: All right, now, let's talk a little about this poisoning. Aggressive stance, gallon upon gallon -- I can't pronounce the poison.

SURRICK: Rotinon (ph).

O'BRIEN: Rotinon (ph). What is that normally used for?

SURRICK: It's a fish poison.

O'BRIEN: Fish poison. OK. Ask a stupid question. Use a fish poison, of course.

SURRICK: It affects fish's ability to breathe through their gills. This doesn't affect other creatures. The turtles in the pond were fine, the frogs in the pond are fine. There is ducks on the pond. But it did kill all the fish that were in that pond.

O'BRIEN: Yes, so obviously some native species were caught up in this whole thing, unfortunately. But I guess looking at the big picture, you don't want this snakehead fish to go and dominate ponds all throughout your area?

SURRICK: That's correct. You know, it's a really unusual circumstance when resource managers have an opportunity to stop an invasive species. Generally speaking, we have to deal with them after the fact, we have to try and manage around them. We had an opportunity here, which we were successfully able to deal with.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, let me just ask you one sort of a somewhat philosophical question. Why not let nature take its course here? Let the food chain be the food chain, let Darwin take over and just let this all play its course?

SURRICK: Well, we want nature to take over and leave the creatures here that belong here. This fish has the ability to impact our local species. It's a top-line predator, and could have wiped out other top-line predators we have here in Maryland.

But more importantly, there are great unknowns when you introduce non-native species. There could be diseases or parasites that are native to that species but that are not native to this area. We have a serious oyster disease in the Chesapeake Bay, called MSX (ph), which is believed to have been introduced by non-native oyster that someone was doing some experiments with, and it's decimated our oyster population. So we would like nature to take its course by allowing what's here to stay here, and helping.

O'BRIEN: All right, so, kids, don't try this at home. If you have breeding pairs of these fish, don't put them in a pond.

SURRICK: Any non-native species has the potential to do significant damage to ecosystems. And it's very important that people be aware that if they have a fish that's too big for them, they should try and find another place to dispose of it, they should try and find someone who'd like it, but don't release it into the wild.

O'BRIEN: John Surrick is a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, joining us this morning from Annapolis, thank you very much for being with us, John.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 22, 2002 - 09:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Maryland, the voracious, land- walking, yes, land-walking snakehead fish has learned a little lesson about just who's on top of the food chain here. Human beings, folks. After a summer long battle, Maryland officials are declaring victory. They have poisoned those snakehead fish out of existence in a pond. They shouldn't have been there in the first place.
John Surrick is a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. He's on the line with us now to tell us about this victory. Are you declaring victory yet?

JOHN SURRICK, MD. DEPT. OF NATURAL RESOURCES SPOKESMAN: Good morning, Miles. We think -- we're relatively confident that we have eliminated all the fish from the pond in Crofton.

O'BRIEN: Relatively confident, you sound like you're hedging a little bit.

SURRICK: Well, we have done some sampling there. We found no live fish. Practically, scientifically, the chemical should have eliminated everything. But we are not quite declaring victory yet. We're going to wait and come back in the fall, and when the vegetation is brought back, and do some more intensive sampling. But there is no evidence at all of any fish remaining in that pond.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's look at the fish in question here, the snakehead fish, seemingly benign as we see the fish there swimming through the water, but these were introduced to the pond -- they're a native of Asia -- and a breeding pair was introduced to the pond. Do we know who did it?

SURRICK: Yes. We conducted an investigation and we identified the individual who said that he put two fish in the pond.

O'BRIEN: And will he be charged with anything? Is there any charge that applies?

SURRICK: It's a misdemeanor in Maryland, and the statute of limitations has expired so he will not be charged.

O'BRIEN: All right, now, let's talk a little about this poisoning. Aggressive stance, gallon upon gallon -- I can't pronounce the poison.

SURRICK: Rotinon (ph).

O'BRIEN: Rotinon (ph). What is that normally used for?

SURRICK: It's a fish poison.

O'BRIEN: Fish poison. OK. Ask a stupid question. Use a fish poison, of course.

SURRICK: It affects fish's ability to breathe through their gills. This doesn't affect other creatures. The turtles in the pond were fine, the frogs in the pond are fine. There is ducks on the pond. But it did kill all the fish that were in that pond.

O'BRIEN: Yes, so obviously some native species were caught up in this whole thing, unfortunately. But I guess looking at the big picture, you don't want this snakehead fish to go and dominate ponds all throughout your area?

SURRICK: That's correct. You know, it's a really unusual circumstance when resource managers have an opportunity to stop an invasive species. Generally speaking, we have to deal with them after the fact, we have to try and manage around them. We had an opportunity here, which we were successfully able to deal with.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, let me just ask you one sort of a somewhat philosophical question. Why not let nature take its course here? Let the food chain be the food chain, let Darwin take over and just let this all play its course?

SURRICK: Well, we want nature to take over and leave the creatures here that belong here. This fish has the ability to impact our local species. It's a top-line predator, and could have wiped out other top-line predators we have here in Maryland.

But more importantly, there are great unknowns when you introduce non-native species. There could be diseases or parasites that are native to that species but that are not native to this area. We have a serious oyster disease in the Chesapeake Bay, called MSX (ph), which is believed to have been introduced by non-native oyster that someone was doing some experiments with, and it's decimated our oyster population. So we would like nature to take its course by allowing what's here to stay here, and helping.

O'BRIEN: All right, so, kids, don't try this at home. If you have breeding pairs of these fish, don't put them in a pond.

SURRICK: Any non-native species has the potential to do significant damage to ecosystems. And it's very important that people be aware that if they have a fish that's too big for them, they should try and find another place to dispose of it, they should try and find someone who'd like it, but don't release it into the wild.

O'BRIEN: John Surrick is a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, joining us this morning from Annapolis, thank you very much for being with us, John.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com