Quote:
Originally Posted by bobber
Mike- I know you're a pro-commercial guy, but now you're just not making sense. allowing the harvest of elvers takes millions of potential adults out of the equation before they can grow and reproduce.... guys who use eels for bait are taking adults that have already reproduced.....
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Wrong on so many counts. The eels we use for bait are not adults, they are "yellow eels" they turn into "silver eels" when they become adults. Once adults migrate to the Sargasso sea they die. You will never see a post spawn adult eel.
1 pound of elvers equals approx. 5,000 fish so it takes an elver fisherman taking 2 pounds of elvers to reduce the adult population by 1, So if you have a dozen eels you have done as much damage to the population as an elver fisherman who catches 24 pounds of elvers. (I doubt that most elver fishermen are that successful but I don't know for sure)
I don't have a dog in this fight, as I seldom fish with eels. Last time I did it was probably five years ago. I'm just trying to bring the facts out, not following the old mantra that its always commercial fishing to blame.
I did a lot of research into this the last time around, even wrote several articles for the fisherman mag and On The water about it. Nothing seems to have changed in the last 8 years.