PORTLAND, Maine: Fishermen within the US’s solely commercial-scale fishing trade for beneficial child eels, known as elvers, have recorded a productive season looking for the tiny fish, which are sometimes price greater than $2,000 per pound resulting from demand from Asian aquaculture corporations.
The fish are raised to maturity to allow them to be served in Japanese meals, a few of which is offered within the US at Japanese eating places.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources mentioned the elvers are being offered for greater than $2,000 per pound this yr, and fishermen are restricted to a mixed quota of underneath 10,000 kilos per yr, having almost reached their restrict by early May.
Jeffrey Ok. Pierce, a former Maine state consultant and adviser to the Maine Elver Fishermen Association, mentioned that this yr, fishermen have been helped by favorable climate and powerful worldwide demand.
Maine eels have change into extra beneficial in recent times, as worldwide sources of child eels have largely run out.
“There is a huge demand for it. They are not getting a lot out of Europe. And it’s just a great product,” Pierce mentioned.
South Carolina is the one different US state with a fishing trade that catch child eels, however its fishery is far smaller than Maine’s.
Because of their worth, the worldwide eel trade has been threatened by poaching for a few years, and federal legislation enforcement has focused unlawful eel fishing.
However, the unlawful commerce nonetheless continues. A examine by a analysis crew led by the University of Exeter, printed this yr, discovered that some 40 % of North American unagi samples they examined contained European eels, that are banned from being imported and exported.