File photo / David Clough
Tiny elvers, which are used to grow market-size eels, remain one of Maine’s most valuable species.
April 25, 2022
Maine's most lucrative fishery closes the season at an eye-popping $2,100 a pound
File photo / Laurie Schreiber
Fixed nets, commonly called “fyke” nets, are part of the harvest gear used during Maine’s short elver season.
By Jessica Hall
The season for baby eels known as elvers is close to winding down, with dealers buying more than 9,200 pounds valued at an average price per pound of $2,161.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources, which released the harvest numbers, said the price per-pound was a 20% increase over last year, when elvers sold for $1,800 a pound.
The average per pound value this year has also exceeded $2,000 per pound for only the fourth time in the history of the fishery, the Department of Marine Resources said.
Most of the elvers are sold to Asian aquaculture companies, which use them as seed stock so they can raise the eels to maturity. They'll eventually be used in Japanese dishes and some will return to the United States for use in sushi restaurants.
The DMR said the catch rate this season has been significantly higher than in recent years.
This year, harvesters landed 9,202 pounds as of April 24, compared to 6,016 pounds for the same period last year. The catch as of that date in 2020 was 5,189 pounds and was 5,933 pounds in 2019.
A small amount of elvers are still yet to be caught this year, with the available catch for the 2002 season set at just over 9,334 pounds. Regulators began setting a quota on the fishery in 2014, in response to overfishing.
Elvers are baby eels that have drifting northward since late winter from the Sargasso Sea, a region of the western Atlantic Ocean, where they were born.
This season began March 22 with 425 Maine-based fishermen able to net small amounts of elvers.
“I got my quota in eight days. I’ve never done that before. That’s the fastest I’ve ever caught,” said Darrell Young, executive director of the Maine Elver Fishermen Association.
Young said the price of elvers went as higher as the season went on, but he sold his eels before the price topped out.
“I wish I had held on for $2,500 a pound but I didn’t,” Young said.
Elvers are the most valuable marine resource in terms of price per pound. Demand began taking off in the early 1990s. In 2015, their per-pound value was over $2,000. The price per pound peaked in 2018, at $2,366, according to DMR data. In 2020, the price plummeted to $525 a pound amid the pandemic and the limited ability to ship to international markets.
Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for elvers.
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