Tag Archives: Julie Keene
Maine elver fisherman dealing with lower eel prices during the coronavirus crisis
Elvers were often worth less than $200 per pound until 2011, when international sources of the eels dried up and the Maine price jumped to nearly $900 per pound. They’ve been worth more than $800 every year since, and hit a high price of more than $2,360 in 2018. Some fishermen call the elvers “wriggling gold,” but this year, the catch is only selling for about $500 per pound. Industry members are blaming concerns about the coronavirus for the plummeting prices. “We’re just going to the river and we’re going straight home,” said Julie Keene, an elver fisherman from the Lubec area. “Price is a lot less than normal. I think we’ve been greatly affected.” >click to read< 10:25
Maine Fishermen of baby eels expect high price as stocks dry up on the international market
Members of Maine’s baby-eel fishing industry are expecting high prices for the tiny fish this year because of a shortage on the international market, and sushi lovers could end up feeling the pinch. Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for baby eels, or elvers. The tiny, translucent eels are sold to Asian aquaculture companies to be raised to maturity for use as food.,,, The fishery is a source of reliable income in rural Maine. Julie Keene, an elver fishermen based in Lubec, is looking forward to a good harvest this year. >click to read<11:19
Eastern Maine Skippers dip toes in murky waters
What’s bugging people in the fishing industry in your town? How do you find out? What can you do about it? More than 100 students from the Downeast eight high schools that participate in the Eastern Maine Skippers program travelled to the Schoodic Institute last week to learn how to answer those questions. The students were gathered at the first of four “full cohort events” planned for the current school year — as much to give them the opportunity to meet one another as to get a start on acquiring the problem-solving skills that can help keep the fisheries, and fishing industry, in their communities sustainable. click here to read the story 18:11
Maine’s latest fishing frenzy brings in $1,200 a pound — and it’s not lobster
It is just past midnight, rain clouds stalking a full moon, and Julie Keene is out on a muddy riverbank in thigh-high rubber boots and a camouflage jacket, a headlamp strapped over her hair. As she wrestles with an oversize fishing net, Keene tells how she went from rags to riches, and that’s not a story many fishermen tell. Just a few years ago, the sardine factory in her hometown of Lubec had closed, and Keene was scrounging for a living digging clams and gathering periwinkles from the beach. “We were so damn poor we were on food stamps,” Keene said.Then came what for Maine was the equivalent of a gold rush. It was slimy, squirmy baby eels — in such demand in Asian markets that they were suddenly more profitable than even the beloved Maine lobster. One memorable night in 2012 when the baby eel were running strong, Keene was paid $36,000 — in cash — for her catch Click here to read the story 10:17
