Maine's black market for baby eels(pressherald.com)
pressherald.com
Maine's black market for baby eels
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/09/09/maines-black-market-for-baby-eels-is-spawning-a-crime-thriller-subgenre/
14 comments
These eels have never been observed mating or laying eggs in the wild, they migrate from freshwater to salt water and breed at extreme depths probably, and their bodies go through significant transformations preparing to mate.
The best they've done is inject eels with hormones in the lab to force parts of the breeding cycle but that's a far far cry from agriculture.
The best they've done is inject eels with hormones in the lab to force parts of the breeding cycle but that's a far far cry from agriculture.
They are raised on fish farms, from capture to prime eating conditions, but eel spawning is mysterious and at least Wikipedia suggests eel reproduction is not currently reproducable in captivity.
There is a pretty fascinating New Yorker article which summarizes the “Book of Eels”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/where-do-eels-...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/where-do-eels-...
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Fishing is measured by weight. Catching 100 lbs of adult eels gets you 100 lbs of eels. Catch 100 lbs of babies, feed them up, and you have 10,000 lbs without violating the catch limit.
Sane legislation has size limits too.
Maybe because they never swim towards East Asia? East Asia is literally the other side of the globe, Pacific, not Atlantic.
This is an ad.
> Their debut novel,“The Glass Eel,” is headed to shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
> Their debut novel,“The Glass Eel,” is headed to shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
I’ve had two kinds of interactions with glass eels. I’ve been swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and been swarmed by them. They are surprisingly docile, more so than typical fish. I have also eaten glass eels, which are legit delicious so I understand that market.
Having experienced how docile they are in the wild I feel a bit bad about previously having eaten them. No rationale; glass eels have a sweet demeanor that makes them easy to anthropomorphize.
Having experienced how docile they are in the wild I feel a bit bad about previously having eaten them. No rationale; glass eels have a sweet demeanor that makes them easy to anthropomorphize.
glass eals are sold to "buyers" for 5000-10000/lb, and a big chunk more money goes to government, customs, and airline people, as they must be flown out on jets from Halifax, which is the main international airport in Atlantic Canada to there destination in Japan.
I have seen the rocks in rivers turning blue from all the glass eals heading down stream, and other people talk of much larger migrations, but like so many things, they are going extinct now.
Why pan for gold, when it will swim right into your net, but it's not the fishers fault that there is a market, and "facilitation" from the very people who are supposed,ha!,ARE! catching the smugglers, catching them, and no doubt taking them out for dinner to discuss ....other markets, right.
Interesting. I'm curious why they aren't just raised on fish farms in Asia then?