ELLSWORTH, Maine — November 14, 2013 — Charges have been dropped against about a dozen members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe who were accused in Penobscot County of fishing for elvers with invalid tribal fishing licenses.
After having considered it this past summer, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy decided last week to dismiss charges filed against members of the tribe who had been issued tribal fishing licenses that the state later said were not valid. There still are dozens of cases pending in other counties, however, against members of the tribe who are accused of fishing with licenses invalidated by the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
The charges stem from an ongoing dispute between the tribe and DMR over how many fishing licenses for elvers, which are juvenile American eels, the tribe is allowed to issue to its members. The tribe handed out 575 licenses this past spring, after the Legislature had passed a law that limited the Passamaquoddys to 200. DMR quickly responded by indicating that 375 tribal licenses would be considered invalid by Marine Patrol officers.
Due to soaring demand in Asia for eels, Maine’s elver fishery has become one of the most lucrative in the state. Average prices that Maine fishermen have received for their catch have skyrocketed from $10 per pound in 2009 to more than $1,800 per pound in 2012, when they cumulatively caught more than $38 million worth of elvers.
Almy said Wednesday evening that he dismissed the charges because he did not think it was fair to punish individual fishermen who were caught up in a disagreement between the state and tribal governments.