FOMB Cybrary

American Eel

2004 Review of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Fishery Management Plan for American Eel Anguilla rostrata (pdf; file size: 75 KB)
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
The American Eel Plan Review Team
Date: 2004
Abstracts from Eel Symposium (Links to abstracts via website)
International Eel Symposium
American Fishery Society Annual Meeting, Quebec (Canada)
August 10-15, 2003
Aerial views of some of the dams killing migrating American eels on three Maine rivers
These dams are targeted for license modification to require effective up and downstream eel passage in petitions submitted by Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and/or Doug Watts to the Board of Environmental Protection. All photos: Martha Spiess, 2005.

Images are of dams on the:
Androscoggin (Brunswick-Topsham (far), Brunswick-Topsham (near), Pejepscot in Topsham, Worumbo in Lisbon Falls, Lewiston Canal South, Lewiston Falls East, Lewiston Falls West, Lewiston Falls entire, Deer Rips in Lewiston/Auburn, Gulf Island Pond in Lewiston/Auburn),
Little Androscoggin (Lower and Upper Barker in Auburn, Hackett's Mills (entire), Hackett's Mills (close), Ridgewood/Marcal in Mechanic Falls, Welchville in Oxford (non-hydro), South Paris (non-hydro), Biscoe Falls in West Paris),
and Kennebec Lockwood in Waterville/Winslow, Hydro-Kennebec in Fairfield/Winslow, Shawmut in Shawmut, Weston in Skowhegan)
American Eel: Considering Endangered Species Act Protection (web page)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
American Eel Decline (pdf; file size: 43 KB)
SeaWeb (non-profit org. working on ocean conservation)
American Eel Distribution and Dam Locations in the Merrymeeting Bay Watershed (Androscoggin and Kennebec River Watersheds) (pdf; file size: 3.40 MB)
Maps prepared by USFWS, Gulf of Maine Coastal Program
Date: October 20, 2005
American Eel - Fact Sheet (pdf; file size: 86 KB)
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
American Eel: Life History and Habitat Needs - Fact Sheet (pdf; file size: 100 KB)
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
American Eels: Restoring a Vanishing Resource in the Gulf of Maine. (pdf; file size: 950 KB)
Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment
www.gulfofmaine.org publication
Editor: Ethan Nedeau
Date: 2007

American Eel (web page)
By Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder
FISHERY BULLETIN 74
FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
Volume 53
[Contribution No. 592, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE - Washington: 1953

Basic Information on the American Eel (web page)
This link takes you to the results of a Google search (on Haro et al, 2000) with many great links to scholarly research on American Eels.

Benton Falls Dam Eel Kill

a) Eel Recovery Notes [11/17/04] & Contaminant Summary [6/19/05]
(For Eels Killed Out-Migrating Through Benton Falls Dam) (pdf file)
Ed Friedman, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay
Date: 2005
b) Eel Contaminant Analysis (for Pesticides, PCB, Dioxin/Furan, Trace Metals)
- Introduction (pdf file)
- PCB Levels in Turbine-Killed Eels on Sebasticook River, Benton Falls Dam, 2004 (excel spreadsheet)
  Note: Bars 1 & 2 are the PCB tissue levels at which the Maine Bureau of Health will issue restrictive Fish Consumption Advisories; bar 3 represents a 13 year old eel; bars 4-7 represent eels in their early 20s.
- Raw data (excel spreadsheet)
  Geochemical & Environmental Research Group
  College of Geosciences, Texas A & M University
  Date: 2005
c) FOMB letter of complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Ed Friedman, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay
Date: October 17, 2004
d) Short video clips of 2004 Benton Falls eel kills:
clip 1, clip 2, clip 3
(You will need Real Player to view these clips; click here to download.)

Downstream Migration of Silver-Phase Anguillid Eels (pdf; file size: 1.04 MB)
Alex Haro
Pages 215-222. From Eel Biology. K. Aida, K. Tsukamoto, and K. Yamauchi, eds. Springer. Tokyo.
Date: 2003

Eel Fecundity Charts

Fecundity by length (pdf; file size: 11 KB)
Data: USFWS and Jim McCleave

Fecundity by weight (pdf; file size: 8 KB)

Eel Friendly Hydro Dam on Rimouski River, PQ Canada (power point; file size: 1.9 MB)
Guy Verreault and Jean Therrien
Ministere des Ressources naturelles, de la faune et des parcs du Quebec

Eels: Their Harvest and Trade in Europe and Asia (web page)
(or download pdf; *Note: first page of pdf is blank; File size: 1.6 MB)
TRAFFIC Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 2
Date: November, 2002

Factors regulating the downstream migration of mature eels (Anguilla spp.) at Aniwhenua Dam, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand (pdf; file size: 730 KB)
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, Vol. 35: 121-134
Jacques A Boubee, Charles P. Mitchell, Benjamin L. Chisnall, Dave W. West, Eddie J. Bowman, & Alex Haro
Date: 2001

Images

Baby glass eels (click photo to enlarge)

(photo: Ed Friedman)
(Photo: Watts Brothers)
(Photo: Jaret Reblin and Ed Friedman)

Eels killed in dams

(Photos: Watts Brothers)

Hydroelectric dam turbine before it starts killing fish in its blades.

Turbine clogged with dead eels

(Photo: Alex Haro)

Upstream Passage Ramp for Eels - Note elvers, lower left

(Photo: Alex Haro)

Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel Anguilla rostrata (pdf; file size: 633 KB)
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
The American Eel Plan Development Team
Date: April 2000

Potential Changes to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel, Public Information Document
Date: November 10, 2004

Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel: Draft for Public Comment
Date: October 31, 2005

Manual for provision of upstream migration facilities for Eel and Elver (pdf; File size: 2.02 MB)
David J. Solomon & Michael H. Beach
Environment Agency, Science Report SC020075/SR2
Date: December, 2004

Mi'kmaq and the American Eel (Kat): Chapter 5: Changing Eel Fishery in the Maritimes (web page)
Paq'tnkek Fish and Wildlife Society
Date: 2001

Miscellaneous Legal Docs
American Eel Passage Issues Continue to Gain Momentum (pdf; file size: 33 KB)
Pierce Atwood, Attorneys, Hydropower Team
HydroNews, May 2005

Fish and Wildlife Service to Consider American Eel for Endangered Species List (pdf; file size: 111 KB)
Verrill Dana, Attorneys
Client Alert, Summer 2005

Proceedings of the Workshop on Aging and Sexing American Eel (pdf; file size: 213 KB)
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Date: December 2001

Proposal to list the European eel in CITES Appendix II (pdf; file size: 567 KB)
CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA
Date: June 2007
Adopted June 2007 by 2/3rds majority of European Union. Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.

Radio and TV Broadcasts about Eels

EELS DIE AS DAM OWNERS STAND AND WATCH (Web page)
Bruce Gagnon's cable TV show
Bruce interviews Ed Friedman, chairman of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay about "safe passage" for migratory fish past the dams on the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers in Maine
Date: Thursday, September 27, 2007

Sound Ecology Radio Broadcast about the American Eel (Windows Media File; 14.8 KB)
WMPG, University of Southern Maine
Interview with Ed Friedman and Kathleen McGee
Date: March 17, 2006

Maine Public Radio - coverage of FOMB's work to protect eels in Maine (Windows Media File; 1.75 MB)
NOTE: Entire clip is 7 minutes long; the eel piece starts 2:00 minutes into the clip.
Date: May 19, 2006

Maine Public Radio - Eel Conservation Issue Headed To Court (link to Windows Media File)
An effort to protect eel populations on the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers is headed to court in a case that could establish new boundaries of authority for state agencies.
Reported By: Barbara Cariddi
Date Aired: 12/26/2007

WMPG "Sound Ecology" 11/21/07 American eel (Windows Media File; 29 MB)
WMPG, University of Southern Maine
Interview with Doug Watts, Friends of Kennebec Salmon and Ed Friedman and Attorney Bruce Merrill of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay
Date: November 21, 2007

Sabbatus River Survey (including eels) (pdf; file size: 44 KB)
Maine Department of Marine Resources
Date: 2000/2001

Shawmut Dam Eel Kills
Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4
Photos: Maine Department of Marine Resources
Date: October 28, 2004

Simulation of the Impact of Dams and Fishing Weirs on Reproductive Potential of Silver-Phase American Eels in the Kennebec River Basin, Maine (pdf)
James D. McCleave, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine
North American Journal of Fisheries Management 21: 592-605
Date: 2001

Species Profile: American Eel, Plan Seeks to Improve our Understanding of the Species through Data Collection (pdf; file size: 42 KB)
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)
Excerpted from ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 12, Issue 1
Date: March 2003

Where have all the eels gone? (webpage)
Gulf of Maine Times
Vol. 9, Num. 2
Date: Summer 2005

Comments to: Cybrarian@FOMB.Org

Baby glass eels (click photo to enlarge)
(photo: Ed Friedman)	(Photo: Watts Brothers)	(Photo: Jaret Reblin and Ed Friedman)
Eels killed in dams

(Photos: Watts Brothers)
Hydroelectric dam turbine before it starts killing fish in its blades.
Turbine clogged with dead eels (Photo: Alex Haro)
Upstream Passage Ramp for Eels - Note elvers, lower left (Photo: Alex Haro)