Elver fishery off to a slow start
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.
A week into this year’s elver, or baby eel, season, Maine harvesters are reporting a slow start.
The Ellsworth American reported that fishermen have set their nets to save their fishing spots but haven’t seen much action since the season kicked off on March 22, amid concerns the water may be too cold.
Maine's elver fishery ended 2016 with its most successful catch in three years, with fishermen bringing in 9,400 pounds, a little less than their overall 9,700-pound quota, at an average price of $1,430 per pound for an overall value of $13.4 million.
Elver buyer Bill Sheldon told the American he was paying fishermen $1,300 per pound for the few elvers he was seeing.
“We’re waiting for warm weather. Then the catch will rise,” Sheldon said.
Maine has the only large elver fishery in the United States. The baby eels are sold to Asian aquaculture companies to raise to maturity to use as food, notably sushi.
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