PORTLAND — Regulators from East Coast states are considering possible new regulations that could place an annual quota on Maine’s lucrative eel fishery.
The American eel management board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is meeting Wednesday in Virginia to discuss and possibly vote on new regulations that could include a quota system.
The debate is being watched by Maine fishermen who net baby eels known as elvers each spring. Catch prices the past two seasons have spiked to more than $2,000 a pound.
Separate sets of regulations are being considered for glass, yellow and silver eels, which are all the same eel but at different life stages. There are commercial yellow and silver eel fisheries, but the glass eel fishery has drawn the most attention because of the sky-high prices.
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