Maine’s baby eel fishery has been through ups and downs in recent years, and regulators might be about to let fishermen catch a lot more of the valuable fish.
Baby eels, called elvers, can be worth more than $2,000 per pound because they are used by Asian aquaculture companies and worldwide supplies are low. Maine is the only state in the U.S. with a significant fishery for them.
Fishermen in Maine are allowed to harvest a total of 9,688 pounds of the elvers per year. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will consider increasing that by about 20 percent on Wednesday.
The elver fishery is coming off a contentious year. Authorities shut down the fishery early because of concerns about illegal sales. The price this year was higher than typical.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.