January 22, 2018 — Two men were indicted this week on multiple federal crimes alleging they illegally trafficked young, high-priced American eels to sell to dealers or exporters.
Joseph Kelley and James Lewis, of Maine, illegally harvested young eels, which are called elvers, in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and sold them to dealers or exporters, the U.S. Justice Department alleged.
Young eels, also known as “glass eels,” can regularly fetch $1,300 per pound, according to The Boston Globe. When the 2011 Japan tsunami devastated Japan’s eel fisheries, prices reached $2,600 per pound.
“Harvesters have turned to the American eel to fill the void resulting from the decreased number of Japanese and European eels,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
But due to concerns about overfishing, every state in the U.S. except for Maine and South Carolina outlaws eel fishing, and it’s heavily regulated in those two states.