July 24, 2014 — With a unanimous vote by the Senate Wednesday and a final enactment vote in the House on Thursday, Massachusetts is on the brink of increasing by 100-fold the fine for poaching baby eels.
State law currently forbids the taking or possession of elvers or eels less than 4 inches long, and the punishment is $100.
"A pound of the elvers is worth $1,000 so clearly there is no incentive at all to stop poaching," said Sen. Dan Wolf, a Harwich Democrat.
The bill (H 3782) filed by Provincetown Democrat Rep. Sarah Peake would increase the fine for violations of the state’s eel-taking statute from $100 to $10,000.