The state will delay the start of the fishery’s $20 million-a-year season by at least 2 weeks.
elvers
Posted inBusiness, Local & State
Though Maine’s lobster harvest was smallest in 9 years, value remained steady
The average per-pound price in 2019 was a whopping $4.82, the highest since Maine began tracking lobster hauls back in 1880.
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Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Fishermen of baby eels expect high price as stocks dry up
ROCKPORT (AP) — Members of Maine’s baby-eel fishing industry are expecting high prices for the tiny fish this year because of a shortage on the international market, and sushi lovers could end up feeling the pinch. Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for baby eels, or elvers. The tiny, translucent eels […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine’s lucrative baby eel fishing season ending for year
PORTLAND (AP) — Maine’s lucrative fishing season for baby eels is wrapping up for 2016. The season for baby eels, also called elvers, officially ends on Tuesday. The season for fishermen who have hit their quota for the year has already ended. The eels are sold to Asian aquaculture companies who raise them to maturity […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Feds won’t add American eels to endangered species list
PORTLAND — American eels will not be listed under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday, a victory for fishermen of the increasingly valuable species. The wildlife service rejected a petition from the California-based Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Reliability to list the eels — which are prized in […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine American Indians, fishing for millennia, regroup as latest effort for state pact fades
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Marie Harnois stands on the banks of the Penobscot River at dusk, swirling a dip net under the water, fishing for eels — something her ancestors in the Passamaquoddy tribe have done for thousands of years. Fishing has been a way of life for Maine’s American Indians since time immemorial — […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Federal postpone decision on new quota recommendations for baby eel fishery
PORTLAND — Federal regulators balked Thursday at a chance to set a new quota for Maine’s lucrative baby eel fishery. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Eel Management Board met in Alexandria, Virginia, to vote on recommendations for the fishery, which has grown in volume and value in recent years, but deadlocked without reaching […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Tribal official fighting elver poaching charges in New York
For the past several years, there has been a simmering dispute — sometimes boiling — between Maine state officials and the Passamaquoddy Tribe over the elver fishery. The state, citing concerns about the number of American eels, has sought to limit the tribe’s ability to issue licenses to its members for fishing elvers, or baby […]
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, sj-web
Maine elver dealer: Season starts late with lower prices, ‘saner’ system
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s short but lucrative elver fishing season has started slowly, by all accounts, and prices are down dramatically from the 2012 peak of more than $2,000 per pound. But two weeks in, the annual frenzy surrounding the netting, selling and shipping of the translucent baby eels to Asian markets seems safer, according […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Former Passamaquoddy representative charged with poaching elvers in New York
A high-profile member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe is one of eight people who have been charged with felony elver poaching in New York, according to an official with that state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Frederick J. Moore III, a former Passamaquoddy tribal representative to the Maine Legislature, is facing three felony charges in New York […]