'A dying fishery': P.E.I. eel fishermen end season early as markets slip away

Fisherman Robert Henderson says in his 50 years of fishing eels on the Kildare River near Alberton, P.E.I., he's never had a worse year.

Many of the 40 to 50 active eel fishermen on the Island pulled their nets out of the water last week after eel prices plunged — fishermen, buyers and scientists say there is a worldwide glut of the snake-like fish.

P.E.I.'s two-month eel season ends on October 25, but Henderson said he doesn't think it's worth being out on the water anymore.

"I like doing it, but it seems to be a dying fishery now," Henderson said as he motored along in his dory, checking his 35 nets for the final time this year.

"I wish someone would find a market for them somewhere," Henderson said.

In 1990, eel fishermen on P.E.I. trapped 124 metric tonnes valued at $390,000. While the value increased in 2017 to $516,000 the quantity of eels caught dropped to 68 metrics tonnes.

'People depended a lot on it'

Henderson thinks this year will be much worse for those fishermen who bothered to put out nets.

"A lot of people depended a lot on it," Henderson said. "It brought in quite a bit of their income in the fall, but the way it is now, it wouldn't be much good."

Henderson is usually on the water from 7 a.m. until about 1 p.m. every day except Sunday.

It can be peaceful but it's also hard work, he said.

"You get out in the fresh air and you see the scenery," he said. "And it's exercise and something to do."

As Henderson takes his meagre catch back to shore, he worries he may end up dumping the eels back into the water. 

He also has nine large storage crates floating in shallow water off shore that he may have to dump as well —  each filled with more than 100 pounds of live eels he caught over the last few weeks.

"There don't seem to be a market for them and so it's very hard to get rid of them now," he said.

Could fill the boat

While there may be a glut of eels worldwide this year, Henderson is not seeing an over-abundance on the Kildare River.

He recalls when he first got into the industry, eels were so plentiful he said he could fill the boat with catches from just three nets.

"In fact, we had enough that I was half scared to cross the river in case they went to one side or the other and capsized the boat."

Nowadays, he said, "I'd have to fish the whole season to load the boat." 

Although his catches have declined over the years, Henderson said at least he usually got a good price for his eels. Seven years ago, he received $3 a pound. 

Today, fishermen are only paid $1 to $2 a pound, depending on the size of the eels. Figuring in inflation, that's not much more than the 40 cents a pound Henderson got a half-century ago.

'Sorry I even put them out'

"There's really no money in it now, by the time you take out your expenses for your fuel and everything else and if you had to buy nets or make nets," he said.

"I was debating whether I was going to put them out or not this year. Now I'm kind of sorry I even put them out." 

Compounding the price problem is changing demand for eels.

In the past, Canada's largest buyer and seller of Atlantic Canadian eels, South Shore Trading Company in Port Elgin, N.B., shipped most of its product in bulk to Europe where it is processed in smoker facilities. 

But international fisheries now have enough eels of their own, said South Shore spokesperson Paul Filminger.

'Compete with all these fisheries'

"The European stocks are on the rebound, they're having great catches," he said.

"New Zealand has good catches, US fishery has good catches, so we compete with all these fisheries." 

As well, China is now farming enough eels to supply its own demands.

In the end, logistics wins out. "It's far easier to catch an eel and ship it within your own country than export an eel," Filminger said.

With the international market for eels in bulk now saturated, South Shore is still holding on to its smaller domestic market, which only wants larger eels for supermarkets and restaurants in cities like Toronto and Montreal. 

In other years, South Shore was shipping up to 50,000 pounds of eels a week worldwide.

"This fall it's 5,000 a week. That's difficult for us on the revenue side," Firminger said.

'Only supporting a few fishing families on P.E.I.'

The company has stopped buying any eels from New Brunswick because even though eels are plentiful there, they're too small for the table market, said Firminger.

"We're only supporting a few fishing families on P.E.I.," he said. "Only those fishermen who have historically worked with us, similar to Mr. Henderson."

But when the company's truck came to P.E.I. last month to collect Henderson's catch, the buyer only wanted big eels. 

"Anything that looked like it wasn't two pounds, they were throwing them out," Henderson said. "Then they took them over and they re-graded them and docked a bunch more of them off."

Last week, Henderson and most other P.E.I. eel fishermen cut their losses and agreed to pull their nets early, effectively ending the season.  

'We just can't use it'

Firminger said the move to close down early makes sense.

"There's no incentive for them to keep putting eels in their pots and stocking up inventory," he said. "We just can't use it." 

Henderson said he hopes the buyer will come one more time for his 1,200 pounds of live eels — otherwise, he'll have to release them back into the river.

"It's discouraging," Henderson said. "Even at night when I go to bed I'm laying there wondering am I going to get rid of them or am I going to have to dump them?" 

"I'd truck them to Souris if I could find somebody to buy them but there's just nobody. Nobody wants them."

But Henderson has no plans to put up his feet for the rest of the fall — he said he might start helping his son, who fishes oysters. 

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