Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 8 augusT 2017
Poached eels: U.S. strikes at illegal harvests as value grows

By PATRICK WHITTLE declined to speculate on
Associated Press how many poachers there
BREWER, Maine (AP) — are and how many arrests
Changes in the worldwide are expected. A convic-
fisheries industry have tion for violating the Lacey
turned live baby American Act, which prohibits illegal
eels into a commodity that wildlife trade, can carry a
can fetch more than $2,000 penalty of up to five years
a pound at the dock, but in prison and a fine of as
the big demand and big much as $250,000.
prices have spawned a Investigators go undercov-
black market that wildlife er to track poachers, pos-
officials say is jeopardiz- ing as people illegally fish-
ing the species. Law en- ing for elvers. They also fol-
forcement authorities have low eel migrations, hoping
launched a crackdown on to catch illegal fishermen
unlicensed eel fishermen on the spot. Investigators
and illicit sales along the also track catch records,
East Coast. Although not a which are required by
well-known seafood item states, to look for possible
like the Maine lobster, wrig- illegal fishing and selling
gling baby eels, or elvers, along the supply chain.
are a fishery worth many In this May 25, 2017 photo, baby eels swim plastic bag after being caught near Brewer, Maine. The legwork is necessary
millions of dollars. Elvers of- Associated Press because illegal trade in
ten are sold to Asian aqua- recent years. In response, illegal trafficking of about their eyes to poaching in elvers jeopardizes the spe-
culture companies to be the U.S. Department of $4 million worth of elvers. 2011, the Department of cies’ long-term sustainabil-
raised to maturity and sold Justice, the U.S. Fish and Two people are under in- Justice told The Associ- ity, said Jeffrey H. Wood,
to the lucrative Japanese Wildlife Service and other dictment, and more indict- ated Press. The investiga- acting assistant attorney
restaurant market, where agencies are investigat- ments are expected. tion of people who catch, general with the Depart-
they mainly are served ing clandestine harvesting In Maine, more than 400 sell or export elvers illegally ment of Justice’s environ-
grilled. But licensed U.S. fish- and sales. Operation Bro- licensed fishermen make has ranged from Maine to mental division.
ermen complain poaching ken Glass, a reference to their living fishing for elvers South Carolina; a New York Maine’s fishery for elvers
has become widespread, the eels’ glassy skin, has re- in rivers such as the Penob- seafood distributor was is the biggest on the East
as prices have climbed in sulted in 15 guilty pleas for scot in Brewer and the Pas- among those netted. Coast, making it the sole
sagassawakeag in Belfast In one case, federal pros- reliable source of the eels in
every spring. They say law ecutors said, three men the U.S. To prevent overfish-
enforcement is vital to pro- pleaded guilty in Novem- ing, fishermen are limited to
tecting the eels and the ber 2016 to trafficking more catching them for only a
volatile industry. than $740,000 worth of el- few weeks every spring.
Randy Bushey, of Steuben,
has been fishing for elvers
since 1993. He said he saw
his income balloon from
as little as $5,000 per year
in the 1990s to more than
$350,000 in 2012. He said
tighter quotas mean he’s
earning less these days, and
in the most recent season
he made about $57,000.
“I’ve seen the best, and
I’ve seen the worst,” Steu-
ben said. “I want to see it
preserved. I want to see it
straightened out.” In this Thursday, July 20, 2017 photo, a dish of eel nigiri is served
The elvers are legally har- at Miyake, a Japanese restaurant, in Portland, Maine.
vested in the U.S. only in Associated Press
Maine and South Caro-
lina. The American eel vers harvested illegally from The eels hatch in the ocean
fishery was typically worth the Cooper River in the waters of the Sargasso Sea,
$1 million to $3 million per Charleston, South Carolina, a weedy patch of the At-
year until 2011, when the area. In another, Richard lantic Ocean between the
economics of the industry Austin pleaded guilty in fed- West Indies and the Azores.
changed. Asian and Euro- eral court in Norfolk, Virgin- They then follow currents
pean eel stocks dried up, ia, to trafficking more than back to rivers and streams
and the value of American $189,000 in illegally harvest- from Greenland to Brazil.
In this Thursday, July 20, 2017 photo, chef Masa Miyake prepares eels grew to more than $40 ed elvers from 2013 to 2015. Mature eels that avoid haz-
to clean and cook eels at his Japanese restaurant, in Portland, million in 2012 because of The federal agencies in- ards including fishermen’s
Maine. Miyake is one of a growing number of restaurants that demand in China, South volved in the poaching in- nets, predatory fish and the
serve Maine farm-raised eels. Korea and other Asian vestigations say there’s no turbines of hydroelectric
Associated Press countries. end date for their probe. plants will one day return to
Investigators also turned The Department of Justice spawn in the Sargasso.q