20 new spots open for Maine’s lucrative $20M elver industry
Highly sought after baby eels now fetch $2,000 a pound
Elvers swim from the Sargasso Sea and into Maine’s brackish tributaries each spring. Once caught, they then head for Asian markets. Photo courtesy of Wikimeida Commons.
Twenty lucky Maine residents will soon have a chance to join the state’s lucrative elver fishery, according to an announcement by Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR).
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.
“Due to recent intense market demand, elvers have now become the most valuable marine resource in terms of price per pound which, in 2019, was over $2,000,” according to DMR’s website. Just 25 years ago, elvers were at a low of about $24 per pound.
With an annual Maine quota of around 10,000 pounds, that price puts the total market value at $20 million.
The application process to enter the lottery for new elver licenses will run from Jan. 26 to Feb. 20. Winners of the lottery, which will be chosen by random drawing, will be announced in late February. The drawing is being handled by InforME, a private company that provides technology services to Maine’s state government.
The elver season runs March 22 to June 7, and can be affected by the weather, said DMR spokesperson Jeff Nichols.
“It may be that since we are having such a cold winter, the elvers may not start running right off the bat,” Nichols said.
Elvers are typically harvested at night in the spring. They are found in marshes as the small eels run upstream to freshwater ponds. Harvesters catch them in funnel-shaped traps called fyke nets made of fine mesh, or by hand-dipping nets from the banks of brackish creeks.
The lottery, authorized by the legislature in 2017, is available to Maine residents who are at least 15 years of age by the start of the 2026 season. At the time the lottery was established, the legislature also set a cap of 425 state-issued licenses. The 20 new available licenses are the result of licenses that were not renewed in 2024 and 2025, the DMR said.
Each new license holder will be able to catch and sell four pounds of elvers. The available quote “is made available from individual quota associated with licenses that were not renewed,” according to the announcement.
Individuals can enter the lottery online at www.maine.gov/elverlottery. Each application costs $37 total, and applicants are allowed to submit up to five applications. The DMR does not accept applications sent by mail, although applicants may come to the DMR offices at 32 Blossom Lane in Augusta to complete the application on paper.
Anyone with questions about the lottery may contact the Maine Department of Marine Resources at 207-624-6550, Option 2, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Historical prices of elvers which, just 25 years ago, fetched only $24 a pound. Data courtesy of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
