August 2, 2023 — Regulators voted Tuesday to consider raising the amount of a valuable baby eel that can be harvested from Maine’s waterways, though conservationists say the eel populations are declining and need better protection.
A board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, an interstate regulatory panel that manages the baby eel fishing industry and other fisheries, voted unanimously to consider raising the total annual quota of slightly less than 10,000 pounds (4,535 kilograms) of the tiny eels that has been in place for nearly a decade.
The eels are typically worth more than $2,000 per pound because of their value to Asian aquaculture companies, which raise them to maturity and sell them for use in Japanese restaurants around the world.