April 17, 2014 — Elver fishermen and dealers reported minuscule catches in the first week and a half of the season. The price for elvers is also dramatically lower, with dealers paying $400 to $650 per pound, down from $1,800 to $2,000 last year.
Tim LaRochelle sat in the bow of a 16-foot canoe, scanning the murky river water by the light of a headlamp and a nearly full moon.
“There’s one,” LaRochelle said, pointing at a squiggle created near the water’s surface by a tiny, translucent immature eel – an elver. LaRochelle kept looking, but nearly a minute passed before he pointed to another squiggle.
His wait summed up the lackluster opening days of what could be Maine’s most scrutinized commercial fishing season in years.
Veterans of the industry aren’t surprised by the small catch or the low price – even as they hope that both will rebound.
At the end of a long and unusually frigid winter, the water flowing from Maine’s rivers and streams is still too cold to lure the baby eels away from the warmer saltwater into the freshwater where they will live until they mature. And this week, with rivers and streams at flood stage throughout the state, many elver fishermen have pulled their gear from the water.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald