Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 21 May 2018
Eels break records in Maine, where they sell for big money

By PATRICK WHITTLE to the higher number is up
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — for public hearings in Maine
America's only significant next month.
state fishery for baby eels The growth of the fishery
has blown past records has attracted the atten-
for value as high demand tion of some environmen-
from overseas aquaculture talists. Geoff Smith, marine
companies is driving prices science program director
to new heights. for The Nature Conservan-
Fishermen in Maine search cy, said Maine regulators
for the eels, called elvers, were wise to implement
in rivers and streams every new controls, such as a
spring so they can be sold swipe-card system to deter
to Asian aquaculture com- poaching.
panies as seed stock. Fish- "As the global demand for
ermen have sold more than elvers continues to rise, it's
$20 million worth of the eels increasingly important to
so far this season, accord- have an effective monitor-
ing to the Maine Depart- ing and reporting system,"
ment of Marine Resources. Smith said.
That is the highest total Federal investigators have
since interstate managers also cracked down on el-
instituted a quota system ver poaching in recent
for the eels in 2014. The years. A judge ruled in early
previous record was $13.4 May that two Maine men
million, and fishermen still will spend six months in fed-
have until June 7 to catch eral prison for illegally traf-
more of the eels this year. ficking in poached baby
"Eels are going to get eels.
caught up in this next round Investigators are "actively
of tides, I think," said Darrell working to dismantle an in-
Young, co-director of the ternational wildlife traffick-
Maine Elver Fishermen's As- ing scheme that not only
sociation. "You never know harms American eels, but
what the price is going to U.S. business owners and
be, but this year it's high." In this May 25, 2017, file photo, baby eels swim in a plastic bag after being caught near Brewer, others who rely on healthy
The eels are raised to ma- Maine. ecosystems for both eco-
turity and used in Japanese Associated Press logical and economical
cuisine. Some are exported purposes," said Assistant
back to the U.S. for use in parts of the world, and are 11,749 pounds, and it was ty of the quota, though Director Edward Grace
restaurants in dishes such on track to tap out their en- reduced to 9,688 pounds they've come close in the for the U.S. Fish and Wild-
as unagi. The elvers are al- tire 9,688-pound quota this in 2015. Fishermen have past two years. A proposal life Service's Office of Law
ways extremely valuable, year. never caught the entire- to increase the quota back Enforcement.q
but they are fetching an The Atlantic States Marine
especially high price this Fisheries Commission man-
year because eel fisheries ages the elver fishery and
had unproductive years instituted the quota for
in other parts of the world, the first time in 2014 out of
members of the industry concern that a gold-rush
said. mentality would jeopardize
Maine's fishermen were sell- the eel population, which
ing elvers at the dock for conservationists believe is
more than $2,400 a pound in peril. Fishermen caught
as of May 16, and that nearly 40,000 pounds of
would be a record if it holds the eels between 2012 and
until the end of the season, 2013, which were years in
state records say. They're which Maine elvers grew
also not experiencing in value because foreign
the slow harvest that has stocks dried up.
plagued fishermen in other The quota was initially

In this May 25, 2017, file photo, licensed eel fishermen Jessica Card, left, and Julie Keene shine
flashlights into the water on the banks of the Penobscot River after setting a net in Brewer, Maine.
Associated Press