Posted on 04/09/2013 3:41:04 AM PDT by Daffynition
Per the Maine.gov website:
The elver fishery is relatively recent, having begun in the early 1970’s to 1978 and recommenced in the early 1990’s. The fishery was nonexistent from 1979 to the early 1990’s due to a collapse in market demand for elvers. In recent years, market demand has increased dramatically. Elvers are highly valued in the far east (Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea) where they are cultured and reared to adult size for the food fish market. Due to recent intense market demand, elvers have now become the most valuable marine resource in terms of price per pound which varies from $25 to $350. The fishing season for elvers is restricted to March 22 through May 31. Harvest methods are restricted to hand dip net and fyke nets with no more than two fyke nets allowed per license holder, depending on the license holder’s history. Concerns about elver fishing relate to impacts of fyke nets on other species migrating and spawning (smelt, alewives, trout and salmon) in Maine rivers, potential over harvest of eels, and the significance of eels to the ecosystem. Legislation passed in 2006 eliminated new entry into the fishery via the elver lottery. Currently an elver fishing license may be issued only to an individual who possessed an elver fishing license in the previous calendar year
I live in Maine, and there is BIG money in fishing for these elvers, as they are called.
They are caught with small nets and, when caught, they must be kept alive. There is a market for them in China, Korea and Japan, where these baby elvers are grown to full size adults....they are a delicacy in that part of the world, and an expensive delicacy at that. I’ve seen nets, which look like sheets, set up on riverbanks....fresh water that empties into a salt water bay. Other guys have nets at the end of long poles, and they scoop them out of the water. It’s all regulated by the marine fisheries people, and there is some big money to be made. Last year’s haul was $38 million. Expensive sushi.
Roughly 2,000 elvers equals one pound, and the guys who catch them receive anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500 per pound. The season is about two months long.
My neighbor knows a guy who catches these elvers. You have to obtain a license to catch them, by the way. The guy my neighbor knows.....last year, this man made $250,000 catching these elvers.....that’s right, a quarter of a million dollars in two months. The guy bought two new pick up trucks all cash, purchased a cabin (what we call a “camp”) on a lake in northern Maine, and still had plenty of money left over.
Maine and South Carolina are the only two states where it’s legal to catch these elvers, from what I understand. There is no demand for them in the U.S., among consumers.
There is a company locally that buys elvers from the guys who catch them, and then ships them by air to Asia.
It’s illegal to catch them without a licence because it’s poaching. The marine fisheries people are worried about over fishing and depletion of the resource.
Are elver licenses like lobster licenses - 25 year waiting period and severely limited number? Seems to me that the licensing process in Maine is designed to protect the current holders of the licenses and shut out anyone else.
In Texas, those are pin worms. You could shine a flashlight on my butt at night and they would come to the light.
I haven’t heard of a 25 year waiting period for lobster licenses, but the number of licenses are limited as you mentioned.
I’ve heard of apprentice programs for lobster fisherman, but these guys are very clannish and have unwritten rules they apply to themselves.
For instance, there are areas off the coast in which a group of lobstermen set their traps. Lobstermen are limited to a certain number of traps, and if someone outside the group sets up traps on the ocean floor, the new guy gets his lines cut by the guys who consider the area to be “theirs.”
A couple of lobstermen got into a dispute on a island off Maine’s coast about a year ago, and one of them pulled out a firearm and started shooting at the other guy. Fortunately, the guy doing the shooting had bad aim, although he did get arrested.
Lots of rules and regulations are the order of the day, but the lobster fishery is in good shape.
My first question that popped into my head, was, “Yeah, but what’s the street valude?” $2,000/lb., wow. I imagine they are now going to be served at the White House on a fresh bed of arugula...
Next question— are these any relation to the Keebler elvers of Pennsylvania? ;-)
My hovercraft is full of them.
:-)
You got me on that “Un” ...
Sounds like crony capitalism to me - in both cases.
I think it pretty much is a state enforced monoploy for the benefit of a few. I noticed one of the posters stated that the legislature changed the law so that the eel licenses would only be issued to those who already had them the previous year. Previously it was a lottery. I can sort of see something like this in the lobster industry where there is a big investment in a boat, but all this costs is a couple of nets. Smells of corruption to me.
That’s crony capitalism.
Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of dirigisme.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism
A long way from the ideals of the founding fathers isn’t it? I wonder ho much the state legislators got paid by the current license holders to enact this travesty.
Enough, apparently.
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