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.