Starting Monday, Mainers ages 15 and up can enter the state lottery to apply for an elver license. The Department of Marine Resources is awarding 20 new licenses to harvest and sell young American eels this year, pound for pound the most lucrative fishery in Maine.
According to DMR's communications director Jeff Nichols, the state established the elver license lottery in 2017 to better manage the fishery, which was seeing a spike in value and fishing activity.
To comply with regional fishery regulations, DMR now issues 425 individual licenses each year, and caps the elver harvest at just under 9700 pounds total each season.
Nichols says there's no way to predict what this season will bring in terms of landings or prices. But, Nichols said, "It has consistently been one of the top fisheries in terms of overall value. It certainly, typically, is within the top five or six commercial fisheries we have in the state. And on a per pound basis, it is far and away the most valuable fishery, at over $1,000 a pound, typically."
The lottery for the 20 available licenses closes on February 20. Winners who successfully apply for and purchase a new license are permitted to harvest up to four pounds of elvers.
The 2026 elver season opens March 22 and closes June 7, or when the state's quota is reached, whichever comes first.
