The moment of the eel's birth is still a mystery, and perhaps this is the biggest charm of the eel. However, before humans can understand the full picture of the eel's life, the eel may have disappeared. American eels, European eels and Japanese eels are all declining, and some species are dying out. Professor John, a biologist at Queen's University in Canada, said: "This is quite a crisis. ”
Are eels an endangered species?
In November 2004, Brother Tim Watts, a university clerk living in Maine, filed an application with the U.S. Fish wildlife service to list the American eel (scientific name Anguilla rostrata) as an endangered or alternate endangered species. The two did so because they were touched by a report about the rapid decline of eels in the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River.
In this water, for more than 20 years from the beginning of the 1890s, juvenile eels were almost invisible. The upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and the waters that flow into it are the largest eels growing in North America. It is said that female eels alone once made up about half of all fish.
One of the reasons for the decline in numbers is hydroelectric dams, which become an obstacle to the migration of eels. For example, after struggling to reach the upstream, the juvenile fish grow into adult fish, and when they go down the river, they may be swept into the dam's power generation turbine. Just like the feet that take off the shoes, some eels will be stripped of a layer of skin, and the larger the body, the greater the danger.
In February 2007, the U.S. Fish wildlife service added U.S. eels to the endangered species list in a 30-page report, without giving justification. The reason is that some eels spend their entire lives in the saltwater estuarine waters. This conclusion is like saying that eels do not necessarily have to survive in freshwater waters. This explanation seems to say that bald eagles can nest on telephone poles without needing trees, which is really infuriating.
Even if they can escape the threat of dams, there are the strongest predators on the planet, humans, waiting for them. The international trade volume of eels is a huge industry with tens of billions of scales, and the demand in Japan in particular is particularly high. Eels are considered a source of physical strength in the summer, and it is customary to eat eel grilled skewers on ugly days during the summer. Tokyo's Makichi Market trades 50 tons of raw eels a month in July, and the amount of processed eel skewers is about 600 tons.
The cooking of eels is complicated, and most of them are eaten in specialty stores when they are eaten outside. Because eels contain neurotoxins in their blood, they will never be eaten raw. The most common way to eat eels is to cook them over charcoal fires and stones, coat them with sauce and put them on top of rice. The liver is made into a clear soup, and the back bones are fried in oil.
Local people rumor that because the women of Kyoto eat a lot of eels, the skin is very beautiful. Indeed, eels contain a lot of vitamins A and E, and the content of omega-3 fatty acids is also quite rich, which will also play a role in the prevention of diabetes.
Where did the eels in Manhattan restaurants come from? After hatching in the Atlantic, the fry are netted at the mouth of the Basque River in France, airlifted to Hong Kong, reared in nearby Fujian and Guangdong provinces, then seasoned in processing plants, and finally packaged and airlifted to New York.
The itinerary for pushing eels to the market is roughly as follows. Juvenile fish that swim from distant waters to freshwater waters are caught and then sent to Farms in China to be raised. Commercially-level farmed eels have not yet been successfully bred, and the supply of the industry is currently first and foremost in the catch of juvenile fish.
Eel fishing that spread to the United States
In the 1970s, china's eel farms increased dramatically, and this momentum also spread to the United States. In all the states on the East Coast, eel fishing for the Asian market is quite hot from January to June. Suzanne, Maine, one of the first in the state to start catching eels and exporting them to China, runs a beauty salon in the port city during the day as a side hustle, and at night she travels to the estuary to inspect the harvest of eels in the net.
Maine's eel industry exploded from the second half of the 1980s to the second half of the 1990s. The more than 1,500 fishermen licensed locally are said to be able to catch thousands of dollars in eels in one night. Recently, however, problems have emerged, such as theft and breaking of other people's fishing nets, and people have been equipped with guns to arm their territory in order to defend their territory. Today, Maine is still the most prosperous eel catch in the United States, but the fishery is limited to a few areas, and the time allowed to fish is limited to March 22 to May 31 every year.
On the other hand, in 1997, when eels were caught at the lowest rate in Japan, the transaction price of 1 kilogram reached 1.5 million yen, which is more expensive than gold. If Japan's supply of juvenile fish were to plummet, the price of juvenile fish caught in the United States would suddenly rise 10 times. However, Japanese people are not very satisfied with American eels, "American eels taste very bad," said Yuki kubota, who has run an eel shop in Kanda, Tokyo for more than 110 years. "French eels are not very good, or the best in China."
A fish full of life and mystery
Like the eel businessmen, eels can bring me vitality. Especially during the period of going down the river, you can feel the vitality of its burst.
On a cool September night, the eels gathered at the fish beams huddled together, looking like a large creature. Looking at this scene, I suddenly felt that the legendary guardian deity of the Maori people in the water may really exist. Now, eels face a huge crisis, like a touchstone to test their adaptability and survival. "Eels will be survivors and can accompany us until the end of the world." I prayed deeply.
The article is translated and collated by YEE Aquarium World, please indicate the forwarding of citations.