Good Eel News!!

[Roccus7]

The US market for elvers has collapsed. This year, Maine elver fishermen gave up and only harvested 91% of the quota because the price tanked. In 2026 the average per pound price plummeted from the >$2000s to only $339!!, so low that many quit fishing early.

Early season prices were lower than $150 per pound!! I noticed the local elver camp disappeared very early this year.

Why?? The Japanese have been successful in fertilizing eel eggs and maturing them into elvers that can be used for aquaculture. That’s definitely good news for US eels.

 

[MakoMatt]

The US market for elvers has collapsed. This year, Maine elver fishermen gave up and only harvested 91% of the quota because the price tanked. In 2026 the average per pound price plummeted from the >$2000s to only $339!!, so low that many quit fishing early.

Early season prices were lower than $150 per pound!! I noticed the local elver camp disappeared very early this year.

Why?? The Japanese have been successful in fertilizing eel eggs and maturing them into elvers that can be used for aquaculture. That’s definitely good news for US eels.

Speaking about the price of eels……. Around 60 revolutions around the sun ago, I used to jack for eels in the flats in Massaqequa with a neighbor kid, Mark was his name, lived across the cove from me. He lived next door to, or at the house that had the seaplane if annyone remembers that. It was on Jomar Ct. Anyway, we could fill up a big garbage pail with BIG American eels on one low tide with the right wind. We would sell them 3 for $1 in the neighborhood.

 

[george]

That really is good news. Strange, though. We have farm raised striped bass, yet we still gotta sell the wild ones.

 

[MakoMatt]

;p

That really is good news. Strange, though. We have farm raised striped bass, yet we still gotta sell the wild ones.

I don’t think that most of the farm raised product can compete with the natural wild caught.

Years ago when I had a smoked fish business in Brooklyn, Royal Baltic, our best most expensive smoked salmon was made from pond raised fish that was flown in every Wednesday into JFK on SAS. Usually 3-4 fish packed in ice in a styrofoam container. Beautiful looking fish, and a very consistent product. They all looked identical. I think we were the first to offer pre-sliced smoked salmon, put back together on a board, and vacuum sealed. I think that was back in the 1980’s when there was not much public knowledge about what pond raised were fed, and the conditions under which they were raised. All the top hotels in NY wanted that product as well as Balducci’s, Zabars, etc. Today, I think a good segment of the public has a different feeling about consuming pond raised fish.

Probably the best salmon today would be number 1 troll either King or Atlantic. They were in the best condition. Least favorable would be haul seined, or gill netted. I would occasionally find a fish hook in the number 1 trolls.

 

[george]

Most sushi salmon, if not all sushi salmon, is farm-raised. Too many parasites in wild-caught fish.

 

[MakoMatt]

Most sushi salmon, if not all sushi salmon, is farm-raised. Too many parasites in wild-caught fish.

Thanks, that I didn’t know. I try to avoid farm raised fish to some degree. With the demand for seafood today, it takes a huge burden off the natural stocks so that is a good thing.

 

[Roccus7]

I used to jack for eels in the flats

45 orbits for me for night time drifts in Moriches’ Terrell River for crab/eel/fluke net/gig combo events. Some fine eating!!!