PDA

View Full Version : "Eel market sizzles as prices hit $2k/lb in Maine"



David - WI
04-03-2012, 01:59 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/eel-market-sizzles-prices-hit-2k-lb-maine-063336905.html

Bioritize
04-03-2012, 02:25 PM
Is there a way to grow fresh water eels? That sounds fun. Anyone have any ideas. That a shit load better than 7/lb for fish

keith_r
04-03-2012, 05:44 PM
we've got something i grew up thinking they were eels.. but are really sea lamprey, an invasive species in lake erie..
i didn't know that there were freshwater eels in ohio..
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1092

they do need salt water to reproduce.. maybe we can drain the lake into one of the salt mines under it

David - WI
04-03-2012, 08:06 PM
Is there a way to grow fresh water eels? That sounds fun. Anyone have any ideas. That a shit load better than 7/lb for fish
That's what I was thinking... for $2,000/pound I'll sleep on a cot next to the tank and sing to them if I have to. :lol:

urbanfarmer
04-04-2012, 12:19 AM
So, let's start an eel farm. Any takers? :-)

foodchain
04-04-2012, 08:42 AM
possibly. I remember eels migrating up the rivers from the ocean as a kid in the Northwest.
Let me kick this around a bit. I am not sure what kind those were, or if even the same kind of eel. But worth kicking around.

urbanfarmer
04-04-2012, 01:55 PM
I believe the ones in the article are American eel, Anguilla rostrata. The price quoted was for "fingerlings" and the price for adult fish would be $3000 / pound. Seems unreal to me.

commander
04-04-2012, 02:02 PM
That seems like one of those "too good to be true" things. And I seem to remember that all eels have to return to salt water to mate and spawn. Sounds like a very complicated breeding situation in a manmade managed environment. And if they became available year round it would probably drop the bottom out of the price.

David - WI
04-04-2012, 02:24 PM
One article said that the Japanese have figured out how to breed them successfully, but the price is still very high.

There is a whole life cycle description here http://www.gulfofmaine.org/council/publications/american_eel_low-res.pdf

foodchain
04-06-2012, 09:58 AM
You can do this. Prawns have to go to salt/brackish water to breed in a very smilar way. You can simiulate this in a stand wave tank, and use the southern climate to simulate a longer growing season.
Then, as they appear to tolerate crowding, grow out the same way they are doing the shrimp just outside Vegas. Sure if you're increasing supply, sooner or later the market will come down....so what if it drops a few hundred. It's thousands on the lb. Clearly rate of return is better than the channel or tilapia are. And even better than my prized $20/lbs live prawns.
Let me do some more tinkering.
Anyone know were I can get fingerlings?

4liberty
03-02-2013, 09:30 PM
We have American eels here in Kansas, the state record is 4.5 lbs and has stood since 1987 which was also about the last time I caught one. The largest I caught was 2lbs. I wonder if they are still around, haven't heard of one being caught since early 90s and I fish a lot.

Aufin
03-03-2013, 08:41 AM
Let me do some more tinkering.
Anyone know were I can get fingerlings?

Yeah, I might be able to arrange it ....... if you're serious. I know a buyer/transporter.

Have a cousin who used to make a nice living trapping eel. Now, since the nuke plant on the Savannah River began operating the eel population has dropped to almost nothing.

TMorgan
01-17-2014, 10:43 AM
Reminds me of a friends father raising Chinchillas, they were worth a fortune until he got into the business. Then the market collapsed and he lost his tail. :-)