August 7, 2013 — ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A fisheries commission postponed a decision Wednesday on whether to impose quotas or other restrictions on commercial fishing for baby eels, the translucent fingerlings that have become big business in Maine with prices that have topped $2,000 a pound.
The delay means that any new regulations on elvers or "glass eels" may not be finalized until early next year just prior to the 2014 elver season, if then. But several people who fish for elvers in Maine were pleased to emerge from Wednesday's meeting without severe catch limits on a species that now ranks as the second most-valuable fishery in Maine after lobster.
"It's better than closure" of the fishery, said Darrell Young, founder of the Maine Elver Fisherman Association.
For the second straight meeting, members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's American eel management board were unable to reach any consensus on whether to establish quotas for elvers and, if so, how to carry them out.
Instead, commission members opted to direct a special policy committee to craft a proposal for a quota system applicable to the entire East Coast — opening the door to fishing beyond Maine and South Carolina, the only two states with commercial elver fisheries. The latest proposal is expected to come back to the commission in October, with final approval potentially by February.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald