Maine elver harvest tops $12 million as season ends
FILE PHOTO / DAVID CLOUGH
Patricia and Paul Bryant, involved in the elver fishery since the 1970s, tend their nets during a dawn trip to favorable river spots in Bristol in this Mainebiz file photo. This year, Maine elver harvesters caught 9,282 pounds of baby eels this season, with a reported value of $12.09 million.
Maine elver harvesters caught 9,282 pounds of baby eels this season, with a reported value of $12.09 million and an average price per pound of $1,302.
According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the breakdown for this year’s elver season for tribal elver harvesters was: 1,261 pounds, Passamaquoddy; 619 pounds, Penobscot; 86 pounds, Maliseet; Micmac numbers are confidential and cannot be made public until three or more harvesters have reported, according to the confidentiality provisions of Maine law.
The remaining licensed Maine harvesters caught 7,316 pounds, DMR reported.
This year’s harvest came in 334 pounds short of the season’s quota of 9,616 pounds.
The value of this year’s harvest is more than $1 million less than $13.45 million in 2016, when harvesters were paid an average price of $1,431 per pound for 9,400 pounds of elvers.
The highest value reported in the last five years was $40.38 million in 2012 for 21,611 pounds of elvers and a per-pound price of $1,868.
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