American Eel Restoration
Perhaps no species in our waters is more mysterious than the American Eel, Anguilla rostrata. Besides its odd shape for a fish, much about the eel is still unknown. Even now, no human has ever seen the American Eel spawn, though we know that as a catadromous species, basically opposite of the anadromous species like salmon and shad, they spawn in the ocean and return to fresh and brackish waters to mature.
They begin life in the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, and as glass eels they float with the ocean currents until they reach the mouth of a river. At between 2 and 5 years old and about four inches long, in their elver stage, the eels instinctively head upriver.
In the Susquehanna River Basin, they don’t get far before they need human help because they are blocked by hydroelectric dams. Since 2008, with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, committed wildlife resource professionals and federal regulations have been ensuring eels get dozens of helping hands to make their way upriver in an effort to restore the dwindling populations in the Susquehanna River Basin. The eels are collected and literally given a ride to be released above the four dams along the lower Susquehanna River.
The work is seven days a week from May to October. In the busy months, collections can be as abundant as 20,000 eels in one day with annual collections up around 600,000 eels. More than 2 million eels have been moved upriver since 2008 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started the project.
The eels are collected at the Octoraro and Conowingo dams using an “eelway” capture system. Relying on the animal’s instinct to follow upstream current, the base of the eelway lures the eel by imitating an entrance to a stream. The eels climb the eelway and fall into a holding tank until they are collected.
It requires a lot of human effort with nets and buckets. Then, the eels are driven to upriver release sites from Harrisburg, Dauphin County, to Williamsport, Lycoming County. And then, they’re on their own. They live out their lives upriver for about 20 to 30 years. By then, they’re about 3 feet long as they head back down and start the process over again. The eels have another challenge when they head back to sea. Scientists continue to study the impact that turbines, used to generate electricity in dams, have on the adult as eels migrate out to the ocean.
American Eel Restoration
The American Eel is an important native species to Pennsylvania. It plays a key role in the spread of mussels, and keeping our waters clean. But these interesting fish face many challenges to their journey in life when they head up the Susquehanna River. So, the Fish and Boat Commission and conservation partners have been working to restore the American Eel by assisting them in their trip upriver.
Eels are a keystone species, a key species in maintaining the health and stability of the aquatic ecosystem. These natives to the Susquehanna River Basin have an important job as they travel. They swim through mussel beds collecting the mussel larvae that now use the eels to move through the waters. That symbiotic relationship is essential to freshwater mussel reproduction, and mussels are vitally important to water quality.
Eels in the Classroom
Teachers come in all shapes and sizes – even 4 inches long and slimy. The eels in the classroom program gives kids an up close experience with Pennsylvania’s amazing natural underwater world. Kids learn valuable lessons about water quality and animals’ close relationships.
