A law prohibiting cash payments for elvers, the baby eels that sell for around $2,000 a pound, went into effect midnight Monday.
The Mount Desert Islander reported that emergency legislation from Rep. Walter Kumiega, D-Deer Isle, was among the bills that went into effect without the governor’s signature.
In addition to prohibiting cash payments, the new law also tightens requirements for dealers to verify a seller’s license to catch the lucrative eels. Elvers have become the state’s second highest grossing fishery, just after lobster, despite a 10-week harvest season.
During public hearings on the bill, Kumiega said elver dealers supported the proposal because they felt unsafe carrying cash — sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars — to pay for elvers.
Kumiega told the paper that the state’s Department of Marine Resources is working to implement the law in the next few days.
