Maine's black market for baby eels

Summary

Josh Viertel and his father, Jack Viertel, wrote “The Glass Eel,” a mystery novel about the elver black market that is set in Maine. The book came out Sept. 9. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) When Joshua Viertel stumbled upon a news story about illegal elver fishing in Maine nearly a decade ago, he got hooked. He said he couldn’t stop reading about the issue, in part because he felt connected to it. The eel Viertel ate in sushi rolls in New York City, he realized, could have started as babies, or elvers, in Maine — one of just two states where they are commercially harvested. And their journey to his plate was a battlefield. In the mid-2010s, the elver fishery became one of Maine’s most profitable. But legally catching the young eels, also called glass eels, meant following government regulations to prevent overfishing, including a limit on how many could be captured. Under those restrictions, a high-stakes black market for elvers soared — until a federal sting started taking it down. “The Maine coast on its own is so extraordinary … But then there is this little fishery that is made-for-TV drama already in real life. And all of these characters are real people,” said Viertel, a food and farming activist based in New York. “There’s so much in there that’s rich and begs to be written about.” He looped in his father, Jack — a retired Broadway producer living in Deer Isle — and they began cowriting under the pseudonym J.J. Viertel. Their debut novel,“The Glass Eel,” arrived on shelves on Sept. 9. It’s one of several recent books and TV shows that have taken up fishing-related crimes, and elver trafficking specifically. (“The Glass Eel” would “make a helluva film, too,” actor Emma Thompson wrote in an email to the elder Viertel that was later added to the back cover.)​​Local booksellers and writers say the trend reflects shifting interests from readers. “More popular books are examining Maine in a way that’s really thoughtful,” said Josh Christie, owner of Print: A Bo...