Laura Greenback, The Examiner
2007-03-01 08:00:00.0
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Annapolis -

The population of the American eel, used as food or for bait for catching striped bass and other fish, may be declining in the Chesapeake Bay, according to a recent survey.

The number of American eels in the Bay peaked in 1983 but has declined by more than 90 percent since then, the survey by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science states.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could not place the eel on the endangered species list because of the lack of evidence that populations are declining in the nation, said Heather Bell, the service’s senior fisheries biologist.

About 50 percent of the nation’s commercial American eel catches come from the Bay, said Marcell Montane, marine scientist supervisor at the institute.

Because of the animal’s unique life cycle, pinpointing the reasons for the eel’s decline is difficult, he said.

They are born as larvae in the Sargasso Sea, and drift along the ocean currents to the Bay where they mature. Then they return to the Sargasso Sea, where they spawn and die.

Changes in ocean currents could determine if eel young survive their journey to the Bay, Bell said. One explanation is global warming, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site.

However, one Maryland expert said the population of American eels is stable.

“Our stocks are in relatively good shape,” said Dale Weinrich, program manager for the Maryland Fisheries Service. “We don’t think they are being over-fished.”

lgreenback@baltimoreexaminer.com