To the gentleman in MD who wants to catch and keep one in his tank, be careful. If you get caught transporting a live snakehead, that's a huge fine, as it is now a federal offense (I believe). I wouldn't roll those dice...
There are several schools of thought but it appears the Maryland is mainly trying to protect the fishery that it has created in the Potomac. Most of the sportfish in the Potomac are non-native and I know that a large effort has been put into building a healthy Largemouth Bass population for recreational fishing opportunities. The fear is that the snakehead will do harm to a fishery into which the state has so much invested. It's been almost a decade since the snakeheads were introduced and it appears that they have found their own niche in the Potomac and are not highly detrimental to the other sportfish species. While the snakeheads are quite territorial and defensive of their brood, a lot of the other fish here are feeding on the juvenile snakeheads keeping the population in check, it appears. We also know virtually nothing of the populations of adult snakeheads in the Potomac. Tagging studies are being conducted, but they take a long time to materialize into useful data.
I work with fish for a living, so knowing the potential that a non-native has for being invasive and destructive, I support the current efforts to curb the snakehead population growth. We don't know enough about them to say that they are, for a fact, not harming already established species. There is a current, less publicized, battle going on with Blue Catfish in the Potomac as well. They are doing a number on the shad populations, a native species, which is already in danger. The sportfishermen love the massive blue cats, they're great to catch. However, I've seen them destroying shad on several occasions, they're much larger and I'd say they have a more voracious appetite than the snakeheads. However, they don't make for good TV and news stories and there are no efforts to attempt to eradicate them. In my opinion, we should be trying to do something about the blue cats as well, but my opinon is just that.
So, until we know more, I say catch those snakeheads, put the picture online then fry 'em up. Good fight, good meal and maybe $200 bucks to buy more fishing gear with. I can't see that as being a bad deal....