Expectations for the volume of elvers that will be caught in Maine this spring may be low but, based on prices that dealers are offering fishermen, the value of the fishery could be headed back up to what it was a couple of years ago. The snow and cold spring temperatures are keeping landings to a trickle so far this season, but for fishermen who are catching baby American eels, the price is back up,,, Read the rest here 09:25
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
It is all pure speculation for now. As a quota holder I surely hope that these prices hold, but unfortunately I am aware that farmers in Asia are being offered eels cheaper than dealers are paying for them here. Someone is willing to take losses to corner markets and/or are looking to blend legitimate with illegitimate product. This is never good for the fishery.