More flexibility sought for profitable elver fishery
A price boom in recent years has made Maine’s elver fishery highly profitable, with prices reaching as high as $2,000 per pound for the tiny baby eels, which are shipped to Asia for grow-out.
In 2014, increased fishing pressure prompted the Maine Department of Marine Resources to implement a fishery quota that’s divided among license-holders based on fishing history.
The winter fishery depends on the tide, which brings elvers from open ocean to their inland spawning grounds. Each week, 48-hour fishing closure give elvers a chance to pass upstream.
This week, the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee will hold a public hearing on a bill that would let the Department of Marine Resources set the 48-hour closed periods by rule, based on the timing of the weekly tidal cycle, in order to “provide increased flexibility and promote maximum utilization of the elver quota by Maine’s elver harvesters,” state Rep. Walter Kumiega, who introduced the bill, told the Ellsworth American.
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 13, in Room 206 of the Cross Building in Augusta.
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