BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 29, 2024
Five Maine residents were arrested in Nova Scotia last week for allegedly poaching baby eels, also known as elvers, according to Canadian officials. The names of the Mainers were not included in an announcement by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the agency that regulates the country’s commercial fishing. Worth thousands of dollars per pound, elvers are caught when they migrate in the spring from oceans to freshwater upstream. Maine’s elver fishery, which is tightly regulated, legally generates roughly $20 million in annual revenue for licensed fishermen.