Arlington, VA – The Commission’s American Eel Management Board has approved Addenda VI and VII to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel. Addendum VI maintains Maine’s quota at the current level of 9,688 pounds for three years. Addendum VII reduces the coastwide cap for yellow eel commercial landings to 518,281 pounds, modifies annual young-of-year (YOY) monitoring requirements, and changes the policy for evaluating de minimis status.
Addendum VI
Maine’s glass/elver eel quota of 9,688 pounds was established by Addendum IV starting in 2015 and maintained under Addendum V through 2024. The Board initiated Addendum VI to establish a quota for 2025 and beyond. The Board will review the quota before the 2028 fishing year and can extend it via Board action.
Maine commercial glass eel landings have not exceeded the quota since its implementation. The Maine Department of Marine Resources (ME DMR) manages the quota using a program that requires dealers to enter daily landings data and enables ME DMR to analyze those data within 24 hours of receipt. The quota management program allows ME DMR to track the glass eels from initial purchase to export out of the state.
Maine will continue to maintain daily trip level reporting and require a pound-for-pound payback in the event of quota overages in its glass eel fishery. Additionally, the state will continue to conduct the fishery- independent life cycle survey covering glass, yellow, and silver eels as required by Addendum V.
Addendum VII
Addendum VII responds to the findings of the 2023 Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, which indicated the stock is at or near historically low levels due to a multitude of factors, including historical overfishing, habitat loss, food web alterations, turbine mortality, environmental changes, contaminants, and disease. The assessment and peer review recommended reducing harvest levels of the yellow eel life stage, while also recognizing that stock status is affected by other factors. The assessment proposed a new index-based tool, called ITARGET, for setting the yellow eel coastwide cap, since there is not a statistical model for estimating the population size of American eel. Addendum VII adopts the use of ITARGET to provide catch limit recommendations based on fishery-independent indices of abundance and catch data with the goal of increasing abundance levels. The new coastwide cap of 518,281 pounds, a reduction from 916,473 pounds, can be updated after three years using the additional years of abundance and catch data.
“In approving Addendum VII and its reduced landings cap, the Board sought to balance responding to the recommendations of the benchmark stock assessment to aid in the recovery of American eel while also allowing for a commercial fishery,” stated Board Chair Kris Kuhn of Pennsylvania. “ITARGET provides the Board a much-needed tool for setting the coastwide cap.”
The Board slightly modified the requirements of the annual YOY survey by making the biological sampling requirement for YOY surveys optional, as recommended by the assessment and peer review. In addition, Addendum VII establishes use of a three-year average of landings to determine if a state qualifies for de minimis status and can be exempt from implementing fishery regulations and monitoring requirements.
Addenda VI and Addendum VII will be available on the Commission website on the American Eel webpage by mid-May. For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org.