Atlantic Coastal Management

American eel are challenging to conserve and manage on a coastwide basis for a number of reasons. During thier life-span American eel navigate through and reside in a wide range of habitats, from the oceanic waters of the Sargasso Sea to the brackish waters of coastal estuaries and the inland freshwater river systems. Additionally, throughout this journey, eel exist under a myriad of management authorities, from international to multiple federal, state and local governments. Life history characteristics such as late age of maturity and a tendency to aggregate during certain life stages further complicate conservation efforts.

American eel are managed by the Commission in territorial seas and inland waters along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. Increasing demand for eel by Asian markets and domestic bait fisheries, coupled with concern about declining eel abundance and limited assessment data, spurred development of the first Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for American Eel in the mid-1990s. The plan, approved in 1999, provided several reasons why heavy harvest pressure may adversely affect American eel populations: (1) American eel have a slow rate of maturation, requiring eight to 24+ years to attain sexual maturity; (2) glass eel tend to aggregate seasonally during migration, making them vulnerable to directed harvest; (3) harvest of yellow eel is a cumulative stress, over multiple years, on the same year class; and (4) all fishing mortality occurs prior to spawning.

In response to the 2012 stock assessment, which indicated that the American eel population in U.S. waters is depleted, the Commission approved Addendum III (August 2013) and Addendum IV (October 2014) to the Interstate FMP with the goal of reducing mortality and increasing conservation of American eel stocks across all life stages. Addendum III established new management measures for both the commercial (glass, yellow, and silver) and recreational eel fisheries, and implements fishery-independent and fishery-dependent monitoring requirements. Addendum IV established a 907,671 pound coastwide quota for yellow eel fisheries, reduced Maine’s glass eel quota to 9,688 pounds (2014 landings), and allowed for the continuation of New York’s silver eel weir fishery in the Delaware River.

In 2018, Addendum IV provisions were replaced by Addendum V, which increases the yellow eel coastwide cap starting in 2019 to 916,473 pounds; adjusts the method (management trigger) to reduce total landings to the coastwide cap when the cap has been exceeded; and removes the implementation of state-by-state allocations if the management trigger is met. Lastly, the Addendum maintains Maine’s glass eel quota of 9,688 pounds. Under Addendum V, management action will now be initiated if the yellow eel coastwide cap is exceeded by 10% in two consecutive years.  If the management trigger is exceeded, only those states accounting for more than 1% of the total yellow eel landings will be responsible for adjusting their measures. A workgroup will be formed to define the process to equitably reduce landings among the affected states when the management trigger has been met.

The Board slightly modified the glass eel aquaculture provisions, maintaining the 200 pound limit for glass eel harvest but modifying the criteria for evaluating the proposed harvest area’s contribution to the overall population consistent with the recommendations of the Technical Committee. Under the revised provisions, the Board approved Maine’s glass eel aquaculture proposal for the 2019 fishing season, allowing for an additional 200 pounds of glass eels to be harvested for development in domestic aquaculture facilities. This amount is in addition to Maine’s glass eel quota. The implementation date for Addendum V is January 1, 2019.