The high art of catching elvers.
The acclaimed artists called Christo might be impressed with these interesting nets that magically appeared all along the Union River in Ellsworth, Maine. Here is their ‘Running Fence Project.’ They have a ‘River Project’ in progress as well.
But these nets are not fishing for acclaim, they are fishing for the very elusive elvers.
Hatched in the Sargasso Sea, elvers (young eels) amazingly find their way from the Atlantic Ocean, up the Union River to Ellsworth, Maine, and other fresh water rivers in North America. The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) has a catadromous life cycle, which means that they spawn in the ocean and migrate to fresh water to grow to adult size.
They are relatively rare and are one of the highest per pound catches in the world. Japan and Korea are lucrative markets. It’s a slippery business as this market attracts those who are interested in short term, high risk investments. And they are not day traders, they have to harvest their catch at odd hours only during the night. The season continues until May 31.
If you go to Ellsworth to check them out, stop in Rooster Brother to catch some good food. They appear to be important to the life cycle of elver fisherman and other hungry folks as well. Besides, they have refined the high art of roasting great coffee beans.
Tags: Ellsworth, elvers, fish, Rooster Brother, water
May 14th, 2009 at 9:49 am
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