RetroFed Forum
Your home away from modern life.
Priced at Thousands of Dollars per Kilogram, Baby Eels Have Set Off a Global Frenzy | The Walrus
Post Reply
AuthorMessage
supersquirrel sopuli.xyz supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-12-09
(edited) Quote

It is their juvenile form that has turned an odd-looking, slippery fish into an expensive commodity. Elvers are now Canada’s most valuable fish. Driven by demand in Asia, glass eels can fetch thousands of dollars per kilogram (approximately a one-litre bottle full)—even sometimes more than $5,000 per kilogram. In 2022, fishers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick earned $39 million from 7,557 kilograms of elvers harvested, according to DFO.

61   Original
BlueÆther no.lastname.nz BlueEther@no.lastname.nz
Joined: 2023-06-08
#2 · Quote Reply

Great way to over fish a fishery

35
SpicyLizards reddthat.com SpicyLizards@reddthat.com
Joined: 2023-09-27
#3 · Quote Reply

Don't worry, it's just a name. They are mostly plastic now.

14
HikingVet lemmy.ca HikingVet@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-11-01
#4 · Quote Reply

Great way to over fish a fishery

It’s an issue here. The methods theu use are not sustainable. They are going to wonder why eels are hard to find in a decade. Like they did with the cod. Fucking short sighted greedy pillagers.

15
boonhet sopuli.xyz boonhet@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2025-06-16
#5 · Quote Reply

It’s an issue here. The methods theu use are not sustainable. They are going to wonder why eels are hard to find in a decade. Like they did with the cod. Fucking short sighted greedy pillagers.

In a decade? Eels were already hard to find a decade ago. At least where I live.

7
Arcden lemmy.zip dlsloop@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-01-19
#6 · Quote Reply

The Walrus has awoken. God help us all.

4
HikingVet lemmy.ca HikingVet@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-11-01
#7 · Quote Reply

In a decade? Eels were already hard to find a decade ago. At least where I live.

I haven't been looking for eels. This doesn't surprise me.

1
a4ng3l lemmy.world a4ng3l@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#8 · Quote Reply

Yeah that kind of shit is nearly causing the European population of eels to disappear from rivers :-/

Too much fishing the larvae and there’s not much back to the continent.

13
BlueÆther no.lastname.nz BlueEther@no.lastname.nz
Joined: 2023-06-08
#9 · Quote Reply

It’s an issue here. The methods theu use are not sustainable. They are going to wonder why eels are hard to find in a decade. Like they did with the cod. Fucking short sighted greedy pillagers.

We have fucked over our eel populations selling them in to Asia, and our 'whitebait' by over harvesting here in NZ

4
boonhet sopuli.xyz boonhet@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2025-06-16
#10 · Quote Reply

I haven't been looking for eels. This doesn't surprise me.

I've been fishing (well, drinking) with people who were trying to catch eel. Usually very rare to get any for casual fishers.

Ridiculously good tasting fish when smoked though. But it's like a treat to get very rarely because of how expensive it is vs how little you get.

Never tried baby eel though. We have minimum size limits in place for catching fish here and most people have the good sense to obey them

1
Post Reply
Back to top