they lack color pigmentation in their skin, which is a natural oceanic camou- flage to protect them against pelagic predators. Eventually the adolescent eels are transported by ocean currents and distributed along the Atlantic Coast, where arriving recruits swim into freshwater rivers and creeks. At this stage they are known as elvers and it is during this stage that they are highly sought for commercial purposes abroad — both as a food delicacy and for aquaculture stocking. Once in fresh or brackish water, elvers begin turning the yellow-green color usually associated with eels. When elvers mature,
the adults are
called yellow eels and eventually repro- duction beckons. Breeding ages can range from five to 25 years, depending upon gender and individually stored fat reserves. The reserves are needed to complete the swim back to the Sargasso Sea where the eels will spawn. During the trek back to the breeding
grounds, eels undergo more dramatic changes. Eyes become larger for better visibility and their skin turns silver to protect migrating eels from predators. Now called silver eels, their intestines
also begin to dissolve — converting stored fat reserves into energy needed for the long journey.
COMMERCIAL EFFECTS
In 1997, European wild elver popu- lations dropped to an all-time low, causing an unprecedented demand for American elvers — along with record- breaking sale prices in Europe and Asia.
“The late 1990s were when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Com- mission started fast-tracking the man- agement plan for the Atlantic eel,” says Lewis Gillingham of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. “Prior to that, it wasn’t a high-priority species. Then situations arose where there were huge increases in elver harvests along the Atlantic states.”
This sudden demand also inspired a rash of illegal harvesting practices. Col. Dabney Watts of the Virginia Depart- ment of Game and Inland Fisheries, remembers those days. “There was a problem along the Atlantic Seaboard for several years where people were netting the elvers for illegal export,” Watts says. “But
today, we do not have that problem, at least in Virginia.”
In 2006, studies showed that recruit-
ing European elver populations re- mained 90 to 95 percent below normal levels. That prompted ICES (Inter- national Council for the Exploration of the Seas) to declare European eel pop- ulations as unsustainable, and to urgently recommend that a recovery management plan be developed. Today, American eels are still exported to Europe and Asia with the proper federal documentation, but exports have plummeted with the worldwide economic downturn. Al- though scientists remain unsure of the exact cause of the Atlantic eel’s myste- rious decline, researchers are focusing once again on the impacts of a foreign parasite on a native host. Just what effect A. crassus will have on future American eel populations remains to be seen, but if the future of European eels is already in peril, can American eels be far behind?
Clint Rock is a Richmond native and a
freelance writer whose work has appeared in a number of national outdoor magazines.
TIDE
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