BELFAST — A Maine judge has found two men guilty of illegally fishing for lucrative baby eels.
A Belfast District Court judge on Tuesday found 41-year-old Ralph Fowler Jr. of Franklin and 49-year-old George Trundy of Hancock guilty of fishing for the eels, known as elvers, without a license on Goose River in Belfast. The men claimed they were fishing for smelts.
Fowler and Trundy were arrested in April on the same day that fishing for elvers without a license became a criminal offense in Maine.
WABI-TV reports that the men were fined $4,250 each but weren’t given any jail time.
Poaching has been a problem in Maine the past two years after elver prices skyrocketed to $2,000 a pound.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Related Stories
Latest Articles
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.