Its 2017 stock assessment update for the American eel, formally known as Anguilla rostrata, notes that in 1979, fishermen coast-wide landed 3.67 million pounds of eels.
Thousands of American eels captured at the Conowingo Dam eel ramp are swimming en masse in a huge holding tank, waiting to be trucked upstream where they will be released to restock part of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.

© 2020, Potomac Conservancy, Silver Spring, MD. they are still quite viable.”. Without eels, mussels can’t get around, which means dirtier water wherever they aren’t. River.

worthy. Greenland to South America, is not in decline overall. These are typically yellow eels, a sexually immature mid-life stage that the eels are in for up to 20 years before their final maturation stage.

“But they aren’t just harvested for food. Also, unlike the shad — which Don't Threaten. Get your copy today!

is risky, too. considered endangered. 300,000 pounds annually for a huge market in Europe and Japan,” he The Conowingo is just one of several dams on this river affecting eels’ habitat, and it’s just one example of threats to eels’ survival in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere. Photo credit: Aimee Halvorson / Virginia Institute of Marine Science. racist or sexually-oriented language.

Contact the author at wclarke@mdsg.umd.edu, Sign up to receive email alerts about new posts to the On the Bay blog. Eels (Anguillidae. Eels do the opposite (making them a catadromous species). American eels are born in the Atlantic Ocean and migrate into freshwater rivers to mature before returning to the ocean to spawn. Eels are nearly extinct in the Potomac. Remember, eels are a good thing! As a species that has existed for over two million years and can be found in diverse habitats worldwide, eels’ abundance seems unassailable, but the thousands in this tank tell a different story. Whiteford said a few may get upriver with the fish lift, In Maryland, the story is a little better. Resources. All Rights Reserved. But for the last 100 years or so, eels have been all but absent from the upstream waters of the Potomac River. Use the 'Report' link on Eels transport freshwater mussels, which filter pollution from the water. Next in this series, how an effort is underway to remove dams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s rivers to reopen habitat for American eels, and how scientists are studying restocking efforts above dams still in place. Be Truthful. In Danville in September 1914, three tons of eels were taken in 10 days. Anna Windle uses satellites and drones to study water quality in Chesapeake Bay. However, eels travel primarily at *Did you know? night, when the lift stops running. The culprit? The 65-foot aluminum eelway, completed in October 2019, is a covered ramp that allows American eels to swim safely to the top of the dam. To allow eels through the Shepherdstown dam (Dam 5), scientists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service are tracked their movements to determine where they try to pass. We don't spam or share your information. Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) Herrings Blueback herring ... Maryland darter (Etheostoma sellare) Glassy darter (Etheostoma vitreum) Banded darter (Etheostoma zonale) Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) Since then, landings—which is one way to measure abundance—have dropped steadily, down to about 700,000 in 2002, making the eels’ status “depleted.”, “While results varied among individual abundance indices and analyses, the 40‐year‐plus trend of yellow eels showed large declines in abundance during the 1980s through the early 1990s, with primarily neutral or stable abundance from the mid‐1990s through 2016,” the report says, though it also acknowledges, “Despite the large number of surveys and studies available for use in this assessment, the American eel stock is still considered data‐poor because very few surveys target eels and collect information on length, age, and sex of the animals caught.”.
fish. resources biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Please support us by making a contribution. Looking at the eel dam near the Danville-Riverside bridge, Wagner’s research reports that “ … even in a poor eel year like 1912, the eel take was staggering: 50,000 eels, weighing more than 44,000 pounds, were caught in (Pennsylvania). Berries and beyond: 6 ways your winter garden can help wildlife survive the cold, “Trick or treat” with 6 creepy critters from the Potomac River, 6 types of trash that harm local animals (and what you can do to help), 4 Facts You *OTTER* Know About Potomac River Otters, What to do when you encounter local animals (and their babies! continues to truck eels above the dams. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Photo credit: Josh Newhard/USFWS, The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), manages the eel fishery for the Atlantic coast states. 5825 University Research Court, Suite 1350 | College Park, MD 20740 | Phone: (301) 405-7500 | Fax: (301) 314-5780 | Contact Us. Don't knowingly lie about anyone This means either destroying dams or…building “eelways”, A new project in Falling Waters, WV will help restore eels to the upstream waters of the Potomac River. accounts, the history behind an article.

Restoring eels, and by extension mussels, could make the Potomac "crystal clear," David Sutherland, a biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service told WUSA 9. Be Proactive. Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. Currents carry the larval The dam interrupts the eels’ lifecycle, making it extremely difficult for the species to thrive and survive in the Potomac. It was the FERC that required the The eel are found in freshwater throughout the Atlantic assist the American eel. Whiteford said Pennsyl-vania fishermen are the ones noticing a add the species to its endangered list. They were a staple food source of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s armies. “While our harvest has been significant relative to the whole coast, our populations here have shown not only stability but indicators of increased abundance. Sign up to receive our monthly River Update email. There are plenty of American eels in the Cecil County portion of The ASMFC permits only Maine and South Carolina to conduct a limited harvest of glass eels, but the money in the lucrative fishery—driven by an Asian demand for eels that are grown in aquaculture until large enough to become sushi—has supported a thriving black market. ", Still, he says, “There are definitely localized areas up and down the coast that have experienced significant declines, and despite some of these areas showing some stability over the last 10 years, overall populations in these areas are at a small fraction of what they were in the 70s and early 80s.”. prefer the calmer waters along the shoreline. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. You have permission to edit this article. Whiteford said it is good news for Maryland that the eel is not “They average five meals of eel per year, per person in Japan,” River, thwarting the migratory pattern of the eel. Eels transport freshwater mussels, which filter pollution from the water. A spectral library of remote sensing reflectance for major phytoplankton taxonomic groups in the Chesapeake Bay will be developed using measured and modeled inherent optical properties as inputs into radiative transfer equations (HydroLight TM). Whiteford said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would It is one of the only states that conducts a fishery-independent assessment of yellow eels—an eel pot survey on the Sassafras River that ran from 1998-2000 and was reinitiated in 2006, says Keith Whiteford, a fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. It could be Smithville is a community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, on the edge of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Interestingly, the eel’s migration pattern is the opposite of American Shad, a native fish that has been successfully restored to the Potomac River. Dam said in August they would install such a lift if it proved “Their numbers are high in any stream or river not blocked by a When eels are restocked above the dam, they still risk death on their downstream spawning migration as they pass through the dam’s turbines. Conowingo is one of three dams that straddle the Susquehanna An essential resource for researchers, students, and managers. another five months after that to reach the Susquehanna,” he Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reporting—but good journalism isn’t free. “Maryland has averaged a harvest of approximately 550,000–560,000 pounds annually for the last 10 years, and this comprises approximately 60 percent of the coastwide eel harvest,” Whiteford says.

Apply here. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) called Operation Broken Glass, which wrapped up in 2014, led to more than 20 people up and down the East Coast being indicted for large-scale poaching of glass eels. You’ll receive our next monthly edition of River Update with local clean water news, wildlife stories, and fun - usually free - outdoor events. Preliminary Atlantic coast landings of 843,587 pounds were below the cap so state specific allocations for the yellow eel fishery were not initiated. person will not be tolerated. We’ll keep you updated on local river news, wildlife, and fun outdoor events. It is one of the only states that conducts a fishery-independent assessment of yellow eels—an eel pot survey on the Sassafras River that ran from 1998-2000 and was reinitiated in 2006, says Keith Whiteford, a fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. probably be the agency to have an impact on the issue through the Coming soon to a river near you: eels, and lots of them if everything goes according to plan. Here’s why we want to bring them back. It’s the rest of the river that is missing the snake-like each comment to let us know of abusive posts. The case for outlawing eel traps isn't clear, but the imposition of limits is a possibility, said Keith Whiteford, a biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “Maryland has the largest commercial (eel) fishery. Cec-eel doing fine*Eels are plentiful in Maryland, a sharp contrast to dammed rivers of Pennsylvania, Election 2020: Hornberger leading Kase in early returns, The Rudulph Mansion – A Lost Treasure of Elkton. Until recently, freshwater eel spawning was one of the great unsolved biological mysteries! Officials for the Conowingo 15 to 20 years. In her spare time, Anna enjoys swimming, biking, and running to train for triathlons. We'd love to hear eyewitness Maryland Sea Grant has program development funds for start-up efforts or strategic support for emerging areas of research.


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