Saving Seafood

Europol announces increased effort to stop European eel trafficking

June 27, 2019 — During a press conference at the Sustainable Eel Group’s 10 Year Anniversary Event, Europol announced that it has seized at least 15 million endangered European eels and arrested 153 smugglers from across the European Union.

The seizures and arrests represent a 50 percent increase in the organization’s enforcement against the smuggling of the endangered European eel. The eel is subject to a number of European regulations, including a blanket ban on all imports and exports and a global restriction on trade. The species was listed under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and a complete ban on all exports from the E.U. has been in place for multiple years.

Despite the ban, its estimated that 300 million glass eels (also known as elvers) are trafficked from Europe to Asia each year. The eels are worth roughly EUR 1.00 (USD 1.13) each, making even just a kilogram of glass eels worth thousands of euros. That high value and small size makes the species a prime target for poachers and smugglers, which sometime coordinate in large operations that can pull in tens of millions of euros.

It has been estimated that roughly EUR 3 billion (USD 3.4 billion) worth of eels are being smuggled every year. The eels are trafficked out of the E.U. to Asia, where they are grown into full-sized eels and resold, either within Asia or to the U.S., Canada, and the E.U.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine fisherman acquitted of overfishing elver quota by 1/100th of a pound

June 26, 2019 — Henry Bear is the former representative in the Maine Legislature for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. Three years ago the now-63-year-old tribal leader was issued a summons for overfishing his elver quota by 1/100th of a pound. Elvers are immature American eels, Anguilla rostrata, that ascend Maine rivers in the spring. The elver fishery is big money with the little eels selling for around a $1,000 a pound.

Overfishing elvers is a criminal offense in Maine. When a politically active Native American gets summoned for 1/100thof a pound over his elver quota, the equivalent of getting a criminal speeding ticket for going 50.5 miles per hour in a 50-mile-per-hour speed zone, it raises questions.

“They call this a test case,” says Bear. “I call it a political hatchet job.” Bear asserts that the Department of Marine Resources staff reviewed the charges and decided to press the case, against the recommendation of state assistant attorney general of Waldo County, William Entwisle.

The charges against him led Bear, who is currently studying law at the University of Maine, to investigate the grounds of the state’s authority in light of several treaties, particularly the 1776 Treaty of Watertown, which was signed by his ancestor, Ambrose Bear. While the states of Maine and Massachusetts agree the treaty has not been extinguished in any way, Maine has long asserted that the Implementing Act of the 1980 Land Claims Settlement Act brought tribal fisheries under state jurisdiction. But Bear has uncovered evidence that indicates the Implementing Act was never properly enacted, possibly putting Maine’s Indian land claims back on the table.

“I calculated we’re talking about $20 billion, based on the current value of the land,” says Bear.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Inside the secret, million-dollar world of baby eel trafficking

June 26, 2019 — In the parking lot of an Irving gas station in Aulac, N.B., not far from the Nova Scotia border, Curtis Kiley popped the trunk of a Toyota Corolla.

Inside was a white bucket containing what looked like a giant hairball, the type that might be pulled from a bathtub drain.

Except it was alive — a wriggling, slithering mess.

This was just an initial sample Kiley had brought to show a prospective black-market buyer, a woman he knew only through text message as “Danielle.”

He was ultimately hoping to unload up to 300 kilograms of the tiny creatures, a huge haul worth $1.3 million on the open market, but one he was offering at a steep discount.

Moments later, Kiley’s world turned from dollar signs to handcuffs. He’d been nabbed in a federal fisheries sting, one targeting poaching in a little-known but enormously lucrative industry that plays out each spring in Nova Scotia’s rivers and brooks.

At the centre of the undercover operation by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in May 2018 was the most unlikely of creatures — baby eels.

Read the full story at CBC News

Five jailed, fined €1.5m, for eel smuggling in Spain

June 17, 2019 — The Spanish National Court has prosecuted five people for breaching EU legislation — and endangered animal treaty CITES — by trying to smuggle European eel between 2011 and 2012.

The network attempted to remove 724 kilograms of live eels, with a value equating to €580,000, from Spain to Asia but were stopped in the first major operation carried out by SEPRONA, Spain’s nature protection service of the Civil Guard.

The network falsely documented the eels for transit to Asia as other species not subject to regulations, including the American eel, the California red worm, and the flathead grey mullet, according to a release from the Sustainable Eel Group.

The export and import of European eel out of and into the EU has been suspended since 2010. However, the scale of the illegal trade remains vast: according to Europol, 300 to 350 million European eels are illegally trafficked every year from Europe to Asia, accounting for almost one-quarter of the total number of glass (juvenile) eels entering European waters every year.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Maine elver fishermen come close to record year

June 10, 2019 — Fishermen who catch baby eels in Maine came close to topping a record for the value of the tiny fish this year.

Maine has the only significant fishery for baby eels, which are also called elvers, in the U.S., and the fishing season ended on Friday. The elvers were worth more than $2,090 per pound this year, according to preliminary state data, the Maine Department of Marine Resources said.

The figure is the third highest on record. Fishermen set a record high last year with a price of $2,366 per pound. The amount of eels caught this year was close to the annual quota of a little less than 10,000 pounds, according to the preliminary figures.

The eels are worth so much money because they are used as seed stock by Asian aquaculture companies that raise them to maturity for food use. Worldwide availability of the baby eels has declined in recent history, and that has pushed up the value of Maine’s eels.

They are eventually used all over the world in eel dishes such as kabayaki, which is a skewered fillet of eel that is popular in restaurants in Japan and elsewhere, including the U.S.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Maine 2019 statewide baby eel harvest value exceeds $20M for second straight year

June 3, 2019 — For two consecutive years, Maine baby eel fishermen have netted more than $20 million statewide and earned an average price of more than $2,000 per pound.

With a preliminary total value of $20.1 million, Maine’s 2019 baby eel harvest as the fourth-most lucrative ever, and as the second-most since a statewide annual catch limit was imposed in 2014. The average statewide price of $2,093 ranks as the third-highest such average that fishermen have earned for the lucrative baby eels, also known as elvers.

The 2019 elver fishing season effectively ended this past week. As of Thursday, May 23, just shy of 99.7 percent of the statewide catch limit of 9,636 pounds had been harvested, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Maine’s annual season begins each year on March 22 and runs either until the quota is reached or on June 7, depending which comes first.

Last year, when Maine had $21.7 million worth of landings and an average price of $2,366, was the first time the value of the statewide catch exceeded $20 million and elver fishermen were paid on average more than $2,000 per pound. The 2018 average price is the highest annual average ever in the fishery.

The elver fishing season last year was cut short, however, when state officials found out that some fishermen were illegally selling eels under the table to dealers for cash in an attempt to avoid having those eels count toward the statewide catch quota. Despite some arrests, there were no reports of widespread illegal activity in the fishery this year.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MASSACHUSETTS: Few herring, no eels coming to spawn

May 21, 2019 — It appears, at least for the time being, that Cape Ann largely has fallen off the list of favorite places to visit for river herring and American eels.

And no one really seems to know the reason why the river herring have been so sparse at the West Gloucester alewife fishway and American eels have been absent from the eel trap set up at Millbrook Pond in Rockport.

“Officially, I’d say we’ve spotted fewer than 10 in our fish counts of river herring making their way up to the Lily Pond,” said Eric W. Hutchins, a fisheries biologist for NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf of Maine restoration coordinator. “Without a doubt, it’s significantly down this year and there isn’t much time left.”

The city, in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries, organizes volunteer fish counters at the alewife fishway to document the number of river herring making their way out of the Little River, up the fishway and into the Lily Pond to spawn. Three to six weeks later, they head back to the ocean.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

High prices for baby eels in Maine as season nears end

May 16, 2019 — Maine’s annual fishing season for baby eels is nearing the end, and prices have approached record highs.

Fishermen seek baby eels, called elvers, in Maine rivers so they can be sold to Asian aquaculture companies for use as seed stock. The Maine Department of Marine Resources says fishermen are just about out of quota this year, and that means the season’s about finished.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

MAINE: Elver landings reflect still chilly waters

April 19, 2019 — Spring is here and, at least in some sheltered spots, the daffodils are starting to bloom. But the water is still cold and Maine streams are just beginning to see their first big runs of the tiny moneymakers known as elvers.

The fishing season opened on March 22 and, as of Sunday evening, dealer reports to the Department of Marine Resources suggested that the juvenile eels that were the source of Maine’s second most valuable fishery last year were just beginning to show up in numbers.

The shortage of elvers has apparently failed to drive up the price that dealers were paying fishermen to the $2,800-per-pound level seen last year, but the price is rising.

From about $1,790 per pound a week ago, DMR reported an average price of $1,914 per pound as of 6 p.m. Sunday April 14.

Maine elver harvesters fish under a statewide quota of 9,688 pounds imposed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Of that, just over 7,566 pounds are allocated to harvesters licensed by DMR. The balance is allocated among Maine’s four federally recognized Indian tribes: the Aroostook Band of Micmac; the Houlton Band of Maliseet; the Passamaquoddy Tribe; and the Penobscot Nation.

All harvesters, whether licensed by DMR or by one of the tribal governments, are required to sell their landings to state-licensed dealers and those dealers are required to report their purchases electronically to DMR on a daily basis.

As of 6 p.m. Sunday, dealers reported buying a total of 2,532.6 pounds with a reported value of $4.84 million so far this season.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Maine elver season gets slower start, but values still above average

April 5, 2019 — Maine’s elver fishery got its start on 22 March, and at two weeks in, the average price-per-pound is sitting well above historical averages.

Maine’s elver fishery made headlines last year as the prices being paid for the baby eels hit historic highs, with some reporting getting prices of over USD 2,500 (EUR 2,225) per pound. Maine Department of Marine Resources landing statistics show that the fishery brought in USD 21.7 million (EUR 19.3 million) in 2018, with an average seasonal price of USD 2,366 (EUR 2,105) per pound, making it the second-most valuable fishery in the state behind lobster.

This year, the numbers are tracking significantly lower than the same period in 2018. In 2018, by 1 April, the fishery had already generated USD 1.4 million (EUR 1.25 million) in value, with a catch of 559 pounds. However, on 3 April of this year, the value has been reported at half of what it was in 2018, at USD 755,869 (EUR 672,844) and the total harvest sits at just over 460 pounds.

Despite the smaller numbers, 2019 is still well above average compared to years past, Maine Department of Marine Resources Director of Communications Jeff Nichols told SeafoodSource. Average price-per-pound in 2010, for example, was just USD 185 (EUR 164.68).

“At over USD 1,600 [EUR 1,424] a pound, the value is still significant relevant to the historic norm,” he said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source