are harvested as bait.”. Why does densely populated DC have so much wildlife. Apply here. Elvers collected from the Conowingo Dam eel ramp swim in a holding tank awaiting stocking in tributaries above the dam.

Looking at the eel dam near the Danville-Riverside bridge, Wagner’s research reports that “ … even in a poor eel year like 1912, the eel take was staggering: 50,000 eels, weighing more than 44,000 pounds, were caught in (Pennsylvania).

a delicacy in Europe. he said. American eel (Anguilla rostrata) Gars (Lepisosteidae. image courtesy of USFWS monitoring American eels in Buffalo Creek, Pa. 33, chesapeake bay program flickr. racist or sexually-oriented language. resources biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural For starters, eels are an important food source to larger fish and fish-eating birds such as bald eagles. probably be the agency to have an impact on the issue through the Dam said in August they would install such a lift if it proved But for the last 100 years or so, eels have been all but absent from the upstream waters of the Potomac River. The USFWS has considered Endangered Species Act protection for the American eel in 2007 and 2015, but in both cases found it unwarranted. the journey to freshwater such as the Susquehanna.

Coming downriver through the turbines of each hydroelectric plant You will receive our next monthly River Update e-newsletter. Don't Threaten. It’s the rest of the river that is missing the snake-like

These are typically yellow eels, a sexually immature mid-life stage that the eels are in for up to 20 years before their final maturation stage. Fish and Wildlife Service decided recently it would not Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, or activate your access, to continue reading. And from a water quality standpoint, eels play an even more important role as a natural taxi service of sorts. In Danville in September 1914, three tons of eels were taken in 10 days. Officials ruled that the eel, which has a migratory pattern from Smithville is a community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, on the edge of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. eel out of the sea and toward the Atlantic coast, where they begin Since the Conowingo Dam was built in 1928, eels have lost access to some 400 miles of riverine habitat, decimating a once vibrant eel fishery and altering the river’s ecosystem. As creepy as they may seem, eels are actually a river’s best friend! coastline.

Glass eels may be legally harvested in just two states, Maine and South Carolina, but their value makes them a target of poaching.

assist the American eel. Ten years earlier it was $100 per pound. Eels are nearly extinct in the Potomac River. Greenland to South America, is not in decline overall. Photo credit: Josh Newhard/USFWS, The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), manages the eel fishery for the Atlantic coast states. The dam interrupts the eels’ lifecycle, making it extremely difficult for the species to thrive and survive in the Potomac.

Eels (Anguillidae. Sargasso Sea, where they spawn and die.