May 12, 2013 — As the value of American eels skyrockets, some unscrupulous fishermen have been tempted by the thousands of dollars they might make in a good day's fishing to circumvent the law, which says almost no one in the Northeast is allowed to take young eels.
On the Eastern Seaboard, Maine and South Carolina are the only states that allow fishing of baby eels, called elvers, that are less than 6 inches long.
Ten years ago, no one much cared for elver fishing as they were only worth about $25 a pound, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Since then, their value has increased a hundredfold, sometimes peaking as high as $3,000 a pound, but there are still only 655 elver fishing licenses available in Maine, according to Maine DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols.
The only way to legitimately take elvers is to get one of those licenses, which become available only when one of last year's license holders doesn't seek renewal. Five thousand people entered a lottery for four available licenses in Maine last year, Nichols said.
Eels are a delicacy in Asian countries, which import young American eels and cultivate them to adulthood when they're sold off to restaurants.
Some unlicensed fishermen clandestinely go out on the banks of riverbeds in pre-dawn darkness with a net and a small light hoping to go unseen or unchecked.
Read the full story at Seacoast Online