AUGUSTA, Maine — March 31, 2014 — Accurate reports by elver fishermen and dealers are critical to keeping a multimillion-dollar industry from being shut down, Maine’s commissioner of marine resources said Monday in announcing guilty pleas by a fisherman who earned $700,000 from the baby eels in 2012 but reported less than half of his earnings.
The agreement by Danny Deraps, 43, of Ellsworth to plead guilty to income tax evasion and theft calls for jail time, restitution and the loss of his elver harvesting license for this season, the state Attorney General’s Office said. The agreement, approved Friday, was announced Monday by Attorney General Janet Mills and Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher, six days before the start of the 2014 elver season.
“Our ability to manage and sustain Maine’s marine resources relies heavily on accurate reporting of harvester landings data,” Keliher said. “We take this very seriously and will continue to be vigilant in our efforts to ensure compliance.”
The case highlights the gold-rush mentality that the fishery has created in the past two years as market conditions in Japan, where the elvers are sold, have driven prices paid to Maine fishermen from as low as $25 a pound to as much as $2,000 a pound.
Prices soared after a 2011 tsunami in Japan wiped out eel farms. In 2012, Maine’s haul of about 20,700 pounds was worth nearly $40 million, making elvers the state’s second-most valuable fishery, after lobster. Some fishermen, such as Deraps, earned more than $100,000 during that 76-day season.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald