BREWER, Maine — May 19, 2013 — A tiny translucent eel that sells for nearly $2,000 a pound has created a modern gold rush along Maine’s rivers and streams, generating millions of dollars for once-struggling fishermen, a surge in illegal fishing, and a debate about how long the economic boom can — or should — last.
The price of the baby American eel, also known as the glass eel or elver, has fluctuated over the past decade, dropping as low a $25 a pound at one point. But following a 2010 European moratorium on exporting eels and a depleted Japanese stock that was aggravated by the 2011 tsunami, prices took off last year to meet Asia’s voracious appetite for eel. Last spring, eels were going for $2,600 a pound.
The high demand and short supply has made them Maine’s second most valuable catch after lobster. According to the state, eels accounted for almost $39 million in business last year.
Maine is one of only two US states — the other is South Carolina — that have legal elver fisheries. That’s largely because other states weren’t interested in eel fishing until recently.
Maine issues 655 eel-harvesting licenses, which are valid between March 22 and May 31. The slippery creatures must be mostly caught at night, when they move up rivers. The short season makes the work intense, and means a lot of lost sleep for the fishermen fortunate to snag permits. On a good night, however, they can earn tens of thousands of dollars by dipping handheld nets into the water. Stories of big-money hauls abound — a fisherman in Penobscot River allegedly earned $200,000 during a single night’s session.
Elvers, spaghetti thin and about 3 inches long, are sold to dealers who sit in trucks parked near river banks. The fish are flown live to China and other Asian countries, where they grow as long as 3 feet in massive eel farms. Adult eels are mostly sold in Japan where they are roasted; in the United States, sushi eaters might recognize them as unagi.
“It’s very poor up here and this money has done wonders for people, bailing them out and getting their lives straightened out,” said Darrell Young, a 47-year-old angler from Eastbrook who said he has earned $150,000 this spring by selling eels caught in the Penobscot River.
Julie Keene, 54, said eel sales last year helped her get off welfare and invest in her 75-acre farm in northern Maine. “I have been so poor,” she said. “Last year, we were able to buy a tractor. It was like a godsend.”
But their river-to-riches story might soon have a different ending if regulators have their way.
Read the full story at The Boston Globe