By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine - Federal regulators are cutting Maine fishermen's quota for lucrative baby eels by about 18 percent.
The move came Monday after a federal panel recommended a quota of 9,688 pounds of elvers for next year. That's a reduction from 11,749 pounds this year, the first year a quota was imposed. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's American Eel Management Board approved the recommendation at a meeting in Mystic, Connecticut.
Prices for elvers topped $1,800 per pound in 2012 and 2013. Fishermen reported prices between $500 and $1,000 per pound this year. Prices per pound never topped $350 in the 1990s or 2000s.
Elver fishermen opposed the quota cut, saying a reduction would make their catch less attractive to Asian markets.
