PORTLAND — Federal regulators could issue a recommendation this week about a new quota for Maine’s baby eel fishery.
A spokeswoman for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says the American Eel Management Board will meet Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia, and vote on recommendations for the fishery. The recommendation follows an elver season in which Maine fishermen caught about 10,000 pounds of the baby eels against a quota of 11,749 pounds. This was the first year in which a quota applied.
Federal officials say the recommendation could range from keeping the status quo to closing the fishery.
Maine elver fishermen’s catch topped 18,000 pounds in 2011 and 2012, spurring concerns from state and federal regulators about overfishing.
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