April 24, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Three men accused of together poaching and selling as much as $1 million worth of baby eels, called elvers, have been sentenced to a combination of probation and fines.

The sentencing Thursday was part of a bust of an eel poaching ring, the Bangor Daily News reports. The Operation Glass Eel bust led to 21 men being prosecuted on charges of illegally catching, selling and transporting more than $5 million worth of elvers in nine East Coast states. Twelve of the men are from Maine.

Two of the men sentenced Thursday in Portland were from Massachusetts. The third lives in Maine.

Elvers are one of the country’s most lucrative fisheries on a by-the-pound basis. They are sold to Asia for sushi.

Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for baby eels, or elvers. The tiny, translucent eels are sold to Asian aquaculture companies to be raised to maturity for use as food. They’re a key piece of the worldwide supply chain for Japanese dishes such as unagi, and some eventually make it back to the U.S.

The elvers are also legally harvested in South Carolina. Massachusetts only has a fishery for older eels, those larger than 9 inches, as do Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times