Elver harvest begins on a cold day

Glass eels make the trek from the Sargasso Sea to a stream in Blue Hill as part of annual migration

An elver harvester on Carleton Stream in Blue Hill. Photo by Amy Brubaker.

March 24, 2026

By staff

The elver season is on, and a few hearty individuals remained undaunted by a snowy start to the annual harvest on March 22. Photographer Amy Brubaker captured some of the moments at Carleton Stream in Blue Hill, noting, “Access for these fisherfolk was preserved due to efforts to stop development on the bordering blueberry barrens.”

Elvers, also known as glass eels, swim from the Atlantic Ocean’s Sargasso Sea hundreds of miles away and into Maine’s estuaries and freshwater ponds each spring. They are highly sought after in Asian markets such as Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea, where they are raised into adulthood as a food.

Elver fishmen harvested 7,797 pounds of baby eels in 2025 and earned $6.9 million, placing the fishery as the sixth most valuable. That represents a steep drop from a $20 million harvest in 2022, $19.5 million in 2023, and $12 million in 2024.

To read  more about elvers, see our Jan. 28 story. Additional photos by Brubaker of the local elver harvest are below.