The Eel Deal

Catadromous is a biological term most of us don't use everyday.   It applies to fish, like American eels, that spend most of their adult lives maturing in fresh/estuarine water and then head out to the open ocean to spawn.  Actually, the female American eels (Anguilla rostrata) are the ones that come far upriver, often spending decades well inland while their male counterparts lurk in brackish waters.  This life cycle is the reverse of anadromous species like herring, shad and salmon that breed in fresh water and mature in salt.   If this is getting too specific for some of you, you can lump both types of together under the term diadromous, which refers to fish species that spend some portion of their life cycle in fresh water and other portions in salt.

Regardless of which direction they swim, diadromous species face significant challenges in American Rivers as well as in deep water.  Pollution, predation, changing climate conditions and excessive harvesting have all taken their toll, but the physical impediments to fish migration in our rivers are perhaps the most dramatic reason for their steep decline.  New England in particular has a massive number of impounded rivers and streams, with nearly 1,200 dams in Massachusetts alone. The USFWS map at left is animated at this link to show the progression of dam building over time in a rather dramatic fashion.  While vital during some stages of this region's industrial past, and still used for electrical generation in places along many of our major rivers, many of these dams no longer serve these purposes and their removal to facilitate fish passage is a cornerstone of many freshwater conservation proposals in our region.  Species like Atlantic Salmon are virtually absent now and other once plentiful species like blueback herring my become non-viable here without better access to inland spawning areas currently denied to them by dams.

Dam removal is a very difficult and costly undertaking, which is why so many dams remain in place.  There are those who value the flatwater behind the impoundments for scenic and recreational purposes who oppose removal on those grounds.  There there is the question of permitting, and sediments behind the dams that may be contaminated with all manner of toxins and pollutants.  In the Housatonic River, the issue of PCBs is directly linked to the issue of dam removal, and so, too is hydropower, with five dams in Connecticut that generate electricity for the region.

Fish ladders and other forms of upstream assistance are sometimes viable alternatives to dam removal for certain species.  The American Eel may get an assist over one of the largest dams on the Housatonic via a temporary eel ladder as part of an effort to restore this species to sections of the river where it occurred historically but has long been absent.  The AP reports:

FirstLight Power Resources Company Inc. is working with state and federal agencies to build a temporary eel ladder on the Stevenson Dam on the Monroe/Oxford town line.

Plans call for the company to build similar structures on its other dams, allowing the American eel to make its way up river as far north as Massachusetts.

The plan is part of an effort on the East Coast to restore eel populations, which in recent years have declined so rapidly that the eel has been considered for inclusion on the nation's endangered species list.

'Historically, we know they used to be in the river,' Steven Gephard, supervising fisheries biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection, said last week. 'They used to catch big ones, as far north as Lakeville. And we know there are none above the dams now.'

Alex Haro, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center in Turners Falls, Mass said bringing eels to the Housatonic is an environmental plus.

'Eels play a significant part in the environment,' Haro said. 'They're generalists, they feed on a great variety of invertebrates. And they're food for just about anything that can eat them — bass, trout pickerel. Herons love them. Cormorants love them. Let's say they go down easily.'

One of the reasons people have been hesitant about installing fish ladders is that they can assist more than just desireable species like eels upstream.  Sea Lamprey, which can become a real concern for anglers if they become landlocked, may also find passage via the ladders.  One assumes this first ladder is temporary so that its target and non-target impacts can be evaluated.  Eels are able to get over natural barriers that block many other species, though I'd imagine the Great Falls of the Housatonic at Falls Village, CT was a hard boundary for upstream movement for just about every fish species, be they anadromous or catadromous or merely instream migrants.  It would be great to see the river reconnected to the sea in this fashion, and I look forward to seeing the results of this first leap forward for eels in the Hous.

Comments

[DWPittelli]

If I may make a plug for a local (nonprofit) organization: The Hoosuck chapter of Trout Unlimited is working on getting a dam removed from the North Branch of the Hoosic River (in Clarksburg, behind Cascades School Supplies). This should considerably improve habitat for our native brook trout. Of course, it takes a couple years or so for engineering studies and funding to come through, before doing the actual work.

http://www.hoosucktu.org/
We meet next on Monday April 30, at 6:30, at the Shipper's Office - Western Gateway Heritage State Park - North Adams

[GreenmanTim]

How true, CV, how very true. One of the biggest challenges that environmentalists face(and others making tough choices)is assessing the relative and importance of disimilar but valued things. There's an old facilitator's technique called pairwise ranking that sets up a matrix of all the values and important objectives of a group, then asks them all to rate their relative importance to eachother across the matrix. When done out loud, as a group, the real creamy issues rise to the surface and those good but lessor objectives are also self-evident. I should really do this with my extended family as we assess our conservation/financial/familial goals for Windrock. How much is that extra $100,000 worth if it means plowing up the ladyslippers and driving by a house in the woods? Lots of opinions on that topic right now, and everyone adds it up differently. Bring on the flip charts!

Miss Chestnuts, I shall certainly "Consider the Eel" and thanks for the book recommendation!

TourMarm, I may be the only gourmand in my family adventurous enough to attempt Christmas Eels, but if I then served them to my family on Christmas I'd ensure that I'd be dining alone thereafter!

[Charlottesvillain]

Hmmm, Eel! Among my favorite delicasies of the deep.

Down here in C'ville there has been a debate about the removal of an old dam on the Rivanna River, which impedes the migration of Shad. I think they have decided to proceed with removal, although if I recall correctly the debate pitted the Shad advocates against other enviornmentalists concerned about the subsequent release of silt backed up as a result of the dam, and its effects downstream.

As in all aspects of policy, and life, these things are always more complicated, and involve more tradeoffs, than the semi-informed can possibly imagine.

[Miss Chestnuts]

"Consider the Eel" by Richard Schweid is "The Cod" of eeldom. I thought it was a compelling narrative of the decline of that species (and in turn, all the others). It includes a little discussion of Robberecht Seafod too.

[The Tour Marm]

This was a very interesting post.

My father's family is from Westmoreland County, VA and shortly after World War II, George Robberecht settled in the county and set up an eel business on Nomini (Nom-min-eye) Creek between Hague and Montross.

It's a fantastic place tucked in a very rural and historic area.

the county regularly monitors his operation (and other commercial and residential sites) for pollutants in the creek, which is part of the Chesapeake Watershed.

You might find this interesting:
NYT SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1994; Christmas Eels

Americans like chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Over in Italy, they like to cook up a mess of eels, which is fortunate for Maurice Bosse, below, of Montross, Va. Up and down the East Coast, fishermen trap eels, but there's a minuscule domestic market. In Asia and Europe, however, the slippery fish are smoked, barbecued and stewed. As vice president and manager of George Robberecht Seafoods Inc., Bosse sends as much as 35,000 pounds of eels a week (and alive) by air -- "The eels are kept cool in waxed cardboard boxes" -- to Frankfurt, from which they're trucked to Holland, Belgium, France and Italy. He also likes to sample his product. "I prefer them stewed with greens and herbs," Bosse says. "Stewed eels are a real treat."