The Maine Department of Resources has released its 2021 elver quotas for license holders and they look the same as those in place for 2020. The quotes also propose a new “tending requirement,” requiring that the contents of fyke nets and Sheldon box traps be removed at least once every 16 hours, with the theory being that if fishermen regularly check their nets and traps, the risk of bycatch and elver mortality will decrease.
Last year elver prices dropped to a 10-year low, $506 average price per pound, down from $2,000 per pound in 2015 and $2,366 in 2018. The price drop was largely related to a drop in demand from Asian buyers, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to elver fisherman Darrell Young, who founded the Maine Elver Fishermen Association. Demand for the coming 2021 season is difficult to gauge, he said.