Arlington, VA – The Commission’s American Eel Management Board has accepted the American Eel Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report for management use. The Report indicates the stock is at or near historically low levels due to a combination of historical overfishing, habitat loss, food web alterations, predation, turbine mortality, environmental changes, and toxins, contaminants, and disease. Since completion of the first Commission American eel stock assessment in 2005, available data have not allowed overfishing or overfished determinations to be made. Based on several trend analyses, the stock is considered depleted, consistent with the findings of the 2012 and 2017 assessments.
In response to the assessment findings, the Board initiated an addendum to consider changes to the coastwide yellow eel harvest cap. Historically, the coastwide cap of 916,473 pounds was set based on the average landings from 1998 to 2010. The benchmark assessment proposes a new tool for setting the coastwide cap based on abundance indices and catch. The addendum will consider using this tool to recommend a range of coastwide caps and management options.
The Board also initiated an addendum to address the quota for Maine’s glass eel fishery. Maine’s glass eel quota has been set at 9,688 pounds since 2015. However, a new addendum is needed to establish a quota for the 2025 fishing year and beyond. The Plan Development Team will begin work on both documents, with a progress update provided to the Board in October and Draft Addenda presented for Board consideration in February 2024. The Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report will be available on the Commission website at https://asmfc.org/species/american-eel (under stock assessment reports) by mid-August. An overview of the assessment can be found here. For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org.