March 26, 2021 — The commercial elver fishery opened for the 2021 season on March 22 for Maine fishermen who hold a license for the lucrative commercial market.
And while 2020 may have been an elver season unlike any other, the 2021 season will be conducted with the same COVID-19 protocols in place. For a second consecutive year, harvesters may fish for and sell the quota of another licensed harvester provided they follow the necessary COVID-19 protocols.
Under this rule, first introduced for the 2020 season, a license holder may fish and sell elvers for several license holders but may not “take, possess or sell” more pounds of elvers than the aggregate quota of all the license holders for whom they are fishing.
A new rule for 2021 requires fishermen to check their nets every 16 hours so as to limit bycatch and elver mortality rates.
“New fishermen all the time are getting into the industry and sometimes don’t check nets for three or four days,” Maine Elver Association President Darrell Young said. “When they come back, there could be 1 pound of live eels and 1 pound of dead ones.”
And what fishermen wants to find dead elvers in their nets when prices may double from the 2020 harvester price that averaged $506 a pound?