Now, fisherman here can get thousands of dollars for a bucket of inchlong baby eels. Eels spawn in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and ride the Gulf Stream north, appearing in local waters starting in February. For the fishermen, the trick is to catch them before they have eaten.
Eels usually feed on living organisms like plankton.
Because that would make the babies more expensive to raise, they have to be taught to eat prepared food, Dr. Kils said. They are usually eaten smoked. To preserve the population her, New Jersey and most other coastal states agreed this year to allow fishermen to use only hand-held nets to catch eels.