the price of eel?
the price of eel?
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the price of eel?
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Post #1 - August 14th, 2011, 3:42 pmHad a late lunch today at Sunshine Cafe and were mildly to very agitated that no eel was available. Upon discussion, we learned that their price has tripled and, after regularly raising prices on the few eel items on the menu, they finally just gave up. They didn't have an answer to why (freshwater, at least) eel prices had skyrocketed and, as we were leaving, I said I'd need to post on this. If anyone knows, it's you all. Takers?Gypsy Boy
"I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food." (Erma Bombeck)
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Post #2 - August 14th, 2011, 6:10 pmSimple enough: the eels are disappearing.
You just can't insult a resource forever and expect it to sustain.
BTW, there's a lovely book telling you everything you ever wanted to know about eels with a marvelous chapter about a character who fishes them along the Delaware.
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #3 - August 14th, 2011, 6:34 pmFascinating and entirely believable but... a tripling of price within the space of mere months? Even acknowledging all that is explained in the link (wonderful reading, thanks), I find it hard to believe that the price would still rise so precipitously in such a short period.Gypsy Boy
"I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food." (Erma Bombeck)
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Post #4 - August 15th, 2011, 4:57 amNot sure how this would exactly effect the price of mature eels right this moment, but if aquaculture farms are paying "quintuple" for elvers, I'm guessing that would need to be passed on...
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/30/o ... ostReadBox
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Post #5 - August 15th, 2011, 7:32 amAccording to this site, the price of live (and processed, if you go the page) eel going through customs in Japan have doubled in the last two years:
According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood watch, eel is on the "avoid" list.
See http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/S ... px?fid=253Freshwater eel have a unique life cycle: the adults spawn in salt water thousands of miles from the freshwater habitat where their offspring will grow up. Loss of freshwater habitat for eel has caused serious decline in wild populations.
Ninety percent of all eel sold in the U.S. are farm raised. Rather than raising them from eggs, eel farms collect young eels from the wild, a practice that adds pressure to the already threatened wild populations. Eel progress through five stages as they grow, including the "glass eel" stage. These young glass eels are collected from the wild to be raised in farms.
The method of farming used to raise eel is another cause for concern. Open net pens allow waste products, disease and parasites from the farm to flow directly into the surrounding environment – impacting the habitat and the wild eel that live there. In addition, eel need to be fed other fish, depleting wild populations. During their lives, farmed eel will eat twice their weight in wild-caught fish.
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