July 14, 2017 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine is implementing a new lottery system for licenses to fish for baby eels, which are worth more than $1,000 per pound on the worldwide sushi market.
Baby eels, called elvers, are a major fishery in Maine, where fishermen sell them to dealers so they can be sent to Asian aquaculture companies to be raised to maturity and used as food. But industry members and lawmakers have said the fishery needs a way to bring new people into the business because many elver fishermen are nearing retirement and there is no way to get a license.
The Legislature approved a permit lottery system last month. The law will likely be in effect by late October, said Rep. Jeffrey Pierce, a Dresden Republican who serves as a consultant to the elver industry. The law states that the first lottery could be held next year on or before Feb. 15.
“At some point you have to ask: How low do you want your license numbers to go?” Pierce said. “They don’t have to hold a lottery every year, but they do have the ability if they want to.”
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Sentinel