If we want to split hairs... What age cycle has the highest mortality rate?? If it is what I think it is, it's between the elver and yellow stages. My theory is by the yellow eel stage, the males have taken up residence in estuaries and the bigger females are in freshwater by then. I "think" that most of the bait sized eels are males that are for the most part potted from estuaries and if they are like bass, one male can fertilize a lot of eggs from many females, so in my opinion the fishery that does the most damage is the elver fishery as you are removing both males and females by the millions. Y'all need to read that book.
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