A translation by Judith Turcotte.
The more I read on the habits of certain fish of the St. Lawrence River, the more I am surprised. It is the case for the American eel. I recently learned that the spawning area of the American eels is situated in the Sargasso Sea, in the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of the Caribbean and east of Bermuda, around 2500 km to 3000 km from the St. Lawrence River. I knew there were eels in the St. Lawrence River, however, the idea that our eels, after 15 to 20 years in our river reach the Sargasso Sea to reproduce and die is a surprise. Due to this migration, the eel occupies the widest range of habitats among all the fish in the world.
And this is not all. The larvae of the eels are known by the name of glass eels. They are transparent, small size (within 10 cm.) and they are considered as “white gold.” A kilogram of glass eels can reach a price of $5000, more than 100 times the price of a lobster. They leave the Sargasso Sea intermingled in aquatic plants and float to reach the coasts of Nova Scotia where they are fished by commercial fishermen and the indigenous people. The latter claim an ancestral right for this fishery as they do for lobster. The glass eels are then sold in Asia where they are placed in fish farms to reach a maximum size for consumption.
An eel, despite its bad reputation due in a large part to its appearance, is good to eat. I had the chance to taste smoked eel for the first time in one of the top restaurants in Montréal and I adored it. I tried to purchase some but it’s a rare product. It is possible to find some in the Lower St. Lawrence; however, the supply is limited. I remember one day having visited the shop of a fisherman in Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville. I had noticed a bin where eels were swimming. When I asked if he sold smoked eel, he answered that his eels were sold live to a client in Japan.
Eel fishing is not prohibited in Québec. The federal government, however, bought back several permits with the result that there are only eight eel fishermen in Kamouraska and a few in Lac Saint-Pierre. Fishing is permitted to the indigenous people notably the Huron-Wendat nation for which this fishing is an ancestral practice.
The problem for the survival of the eel is therefore not in Québec where the number of fishermen has been restricted, but in Nova Scotia where there is overfishing and illegal fishing of the glass eel whose ultimate destination is the St. Lawrence River. In Nova Scotia, since 2025, measures have been established to control the number of captures, eliminate illegal fishing and ensure the indigenous people a suitable substance. Seriously!
The overfishing in Nova Scotia has direct effects on the eel population in our river. I hope that the Québec government follows the situation closely.