Not so long ago daffodils would have no chance against snow, and now they are becoming the dominant force.
That same force of nature is sprouting elver nets on Maine’s freshwater rivers. This one’s on the Goose River that flows into Rockport Harbor.
If you want to know more about elvers in Maine, here are some previous posts — here, here and here.
Tulips are part of spring, but so are elvers.
The Union River in Ellsworth is sprouting elver nets once again. The nets are curious, but the story of elvers is truly amazing. Here are previous 2bnMaine elver postings 2008 and 2009.
If you’ve never tried eel, Unagi is a delicious choice in a Japanese restaurant. It’s cooked, not raw.
And the following is a nice overview of the life of elvers. It was ‘copy and pasted’ from the Department of Marine Resources of the State of Maine:
The Maine Eel and Elver Fishery
The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) has a catadromous life cycle, that is, it spawns in the ocean and migrates to fresh water to grow to adult size.
As adult eels mature, they leave the brackish/freshwater growing areas in the fall (August to November), migrate to the Sargasso Sea and spawn during the late winter.
The Sargasso Sea is a large area of the western North Atlantic located east of the Bahamas and south of Bermuda. After spawning, the adult eels die.
The eggs hatch after several days and develop into a larval stage (leptocephalus) which is shaped like a willow leaf.
The larvae drift in the ocean for several months and then enter the Gulf Stream current to be carried north toward the North American continent. As they approach the continental shelf, the larvae transform into miniature transparent eels called “glass eels”.
As glass eels leave the open ocean to enter estuaries and ascend rivers they are known as elvers. This migration occurs in late winter, early spring, and throughout the summer months. Some elvers may remain in brackish waters while others ascend rivers far inland. Eels may stay in growing areas from 8-25 years before migrating back to sea to spawn.
There are three distinct fisheries for eels in Maine which relate to three different life stages.
The glass eel/elver fishery harvests small eels returning to rivers from their ocean spawning areas. This fishery utilizes fine mesh fyke nets (a funnel shaped net) or dip nets to collect elvers as they ascend to fresh water.
The yellow eel fishery occurs for eels which are growing in brackish and fresh waters. These eels are typically more than 2-3 years old, but not yet mature. Harvesting gear in this fishery includes baited eel pots and fyke nets.
The silver eel fishery occurs in late summer and fall and consists of weirs across streams and rivers to collect out migrating sexually mature eels that are moving downstream to go to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.
Fisheries for yellow and silver eels have a long history in Maine, having occurred since the earliest colonial settlements.
The elver fishery is relatively recent, having begun in the early 1970’s to 1978 and recommenced in the early 1990’s. The fishery was nonexistent from 1979 to the early 1990’s due to a collapse in market demand for elvers.
In recent years, market demand has increased dramatically. Elvers are highly valued in the far east (Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea) where they are cultured and reared to adult size for the food fish market.
Due to recent intense market demand, elvers have now become the most valuable marine resource in terms of price per pound which varies from $25 to $350. The fishing season for elvers is restricted to March 22 through May 31.
The quirky, and pretty, elver nets are back on the Union River that flows through Ellsworth. They’re quite puzzling if you don’t know what they are. Here’s last year’s post about fishing for elvers. Elvers are young eels.
And here are some really amazing American Eel facts:
Here is more info from The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The nets will remain in Ellsworth until the end of the month. So if you want to see them, you’d better hurry. You can also visit the wonderful Rooster Brother at the same time, and harvest some of their fantastic freshly roasted coffees.
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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.
Working on new blog for Maine Digs and new design for 2bnMaine.
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