History of Eel Fishing: Part 1

Dan Rhodes, Education Coordinator, BCCD
In the last couple articles I’ve written about eels, much detail has gone into explaining the importance of American Eels in the Susquehanna River as a species necessary to keep the ecosystem functioning and the water clean. Along these lines, the crucial importance of eels can’t be overstated, but there are also other qualities of eels that must not be overlooked while teaching people about their overall value. As a conservationist, the mantra of the Conservation District in general is the promotion of a ‘wise use’ approach to natural resources. Wise use, especially when dealing with scarce and valuable resources such as the American eel, can be a difficult problem to solve but not an impossible one. As fisheries biologists and conservationists work toward helping the American eel make a full comeback in our waterways, I thought it might be important to highlight for the general public why American eels were a crucially important food and income source for people and wildlife in the past, and how/why it would be incredibly beneficial for everyone if American eels were allowed to reclaim this importance in the present and future.

To understand and get the proper perspective when it comes to the overall health and value of natural resources, we often must look back on the past and make a comparison to where things stand today. American eels are certainly no different. Asking questions like ‘what did the population of American eel look like in the Susquehanna River 100 years ago, 200 years ago, or 1000 years ago’ can help give us a starting point and can help teach us what that population might look like if it were healthy. Unfortunately, eel science, even today, is still working to plug large gaps in knowledge on the species, but fortunately for us, compelling clues do exist from the past to help us get in the right ballpark.
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Starting with the 1000 year ago or more eel population picture question, the first and most visible clue can be found on google earth or simply google maps.    

If we look hard at the overhead satellite pictures of the river, we occasionally spot these large ‘V’ shaped stone structures that show up often adjacent to known Native American village sites. These V’s are actually the ancient remnants of what are known as eel ‘weirs’ or traps designed specifically to catch American eels. The eel weir remains shown in the picture on the left can be seen during times of low water levels about half a mile downstream from the Towanda bridge. Once the large stone ‘V’ was built with the opening facing upstream, Native village craftsmen and women would weave long, cylindrical baskets like the ones shown in the middle picture above, to further refine and capture hundreds if not thousands of eels annually.

These stone structures were built by hand, one stone at a time by Native Americans that knew the high energy and time costs spent building was worth the investment because of the high rate of return they would get annually in eel meat. This high rate of return on trap construction meant that entire villages could count on annual eel catches to feed their families through each winter, even when other food sources were fickle some years. Crops could fail to grow, wildlife could be hard to find, and nut-bearing trees could fail to drop anything in years with late frosts. In a world where survival and food sources were not always guaranteed, annual eel spawning migrations numbered easily in the hundreds of thousands and were always dependable.

Compare that to today when news of an angler on the Susquehanna River catching a single eel for the first time in their life is viewed as a near miraculous event! Having a PhD in fisheries biology isn’t necessary to figure out that the population of eels today is in major trouble when we compare it to what it once was throughout the Susquehanna River watershed when the population was healthy.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series on eel fishing to learn about how American eels remained a super important commercial fishing commodity long into the 19th century and what happened in the 20th century to derail the population and create massive issues for eel survivability across the landscape.   
 
BCCD is also very excited to announce that through the very generous support of our sponsor at Repsol, we now have the financial capability to maintain the existing 10 participating EIC classrooms across 8 school districts across Bradford County with the potential to expand the program to others. We look forward to working with Repsol and our many school/teacher partnerships across the county for years to come!           
The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.