Lawmakers eyeing elver season expansions
FILE PHOTO / DAVID CLOUGH
Patricia and Paul Bryant, involved in the elver fishery since the 1970s, tend their nets during a recent dawn trip to favorable river spots in Bristol.
The big business of elver fishing in Maine could soon be even bigger, as state lawmakers are currently weighing possible expansions to the season as a way to allow fishermen to reach yearly quotas.
Currently Maine is the only state in the nation with a significant elver fishery, with fishermen last year catching 5,242 pounds of the baby eels, which have been selling for over $850 per pound since 2011.
In 2015, the price of elvers in the state hit an all-time high with the baby eels priced at a staggering $2,172 per pound. The boom in prices have been primarily attributed to shrinking foreign sources according to The Portland Press Herald.
The proposed changes currently on their way to the Legislature include a plan that would extend the fishing season by a week, in addition to allowing weekend fishing. Currently, the fishing season for elvers stretches from March 22 until May 31.
Another provision of the proposed law would allow Native American tribes in Maine to fish under a quota for the entire tribe as opposed to the current regulations with consists of individual member quotas. This addition is sure to be a welcome change to the Passamaquoddy Tribe, which has argued that elvers, as a natural resource, belong to all members of the tribe as opposed to single individuals.
Elvers are traditionally sold to aquaculture companies in Asia, where they are raised to maturity before being used in food products such as sushi and sashimi.
Read more
A wild fishery tamed: Maine elvers are in demand in Asia, but quotas limit catch
Maine delays technology for tracking sea urchin fishery
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments