Secretary Gale Norton
United States Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240

Secretary Donald Evans
United States Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20230

Mr. Steven A. Williams, Director
United States Fish and Wildlife Service

Dr. William T. Hogarth, Director
NOAA Fisheries


November 12, 2004


Dear Secretaries Norton and Evans
and Directors Williams and Hogarth,


Pursuant to the United States Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544, petitioners Timothy Allan Watts of South Middleborough, Massachusetts and Douglas Harold Watts of Augusta, Maine submit the following Petition and Appendices to the Departments of Interior and Commerce to list the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. This petition is filed under 5 U.S.C. § 553(3) and 50 C.F.R. part 424.14.


Sincerely,



Timothy Allan Watts
633 Wareham Street
South Middleborough, Massachusetts 02346

Douglas Harold Watts
Post Office Box 2473
Augusta, Maine 04338

Petition to List the American Eel as an Endangered Species
Pursuant to the United States Endangered Species Act
16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 - 1544.





PETITIONERS:

Timothy Allan Watts
633 Wareham Street
South Middleborough, MA 02346

Douglas Harold Watts
P.O. Box 2473
Augusta, ME 04338



Petitioners request the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) list the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 - 1544. This petition is filed under 5 U.S.C. § 553(e) and 50 C.F.R. part 424.14.


I. STATUS OF THE AMERICAN EEL

The American eel is in steep decline across its range in the United States of America. This petition summarizes the natural history of the American eel and their cultural use; population information on the American eel; a description of existing threats to the American eel and their habitat. Petitioners are seeking listing of the American eel as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act.


A. Life History of the American Eel

Morgan (1930) states:

"American eel are snake-like fishes which live in fresh water from their early youth to breeding time and then migrate into salt water, never to return again. The eels which come up the streams are the young ones of another generation which have traveled the long and unknown way from the sea.

"Full grown eels are about three feet long, plain colored, greenish brown above and pale greenish gray beneath. Every inch of their bodies is sinuous and flexible, well earning the phrase 'squirms like an eel.'

"During their freshwater sojourn eels usually live on the muddy bottoms of streams or in stream fed ponds. Although they generally seek deep streams they often work their way up brooks along the coast. It is a surprising but not a unique experience to catch an eel on the hook which is meant for a brook trout. Sometimes eels come out of the water and hide under muddy stones in swampy ground a few feet from the shores and they have been seen foraging on the sand along the stream sides. Eels eat almost any animals dead or alive -- insect, fishes, frogs and water-rats -- as well as aquatic plants.

"The life history of eels was not completely known until 1925 when Schmidt published his studies of both American and European species. The breeding place of American eels appears to be north of the West Indies, west and south of the regions where European eels breed. Eels spawn in deep waters and their eggs hatch into transparent floating larvae. American eels keep their larval form for about a year during which they drift near the surface. Then they are caught in the current of the Gulf Stream and carried toward the American coasts. Only when they near the coastal waters, at a depth of 3,000 feet or less, do they begin to take on the shape of adult eels. Finally small eels but two or three inches long begin to come up the rivers in great numbers. In Rhode Island young eels go up the Taunton River through April and May; in some other rivers they appear later; in many of them, thousands can be seen on the mud flats at river mouths when the tide is out. Like lampreys they rest by day and travel by night, with unbroken persistence working their way up toward the regions forsaken by their parents. Only the females persevere to the headwaters; the males stay in the lower parts of the stream. They live in these places for a number of years and then another change comes over them. They cease eating, their skins turn white and shimmering and they begin their long journey to the sea. These are the 'silver eels' which are caught in traps, as they journey downstream, resting by day and moving by night. Size -- three to four feet."

American eel are among the longest-living animals in North America and one of longest-living fishes of North America. Female American eel in northern latitudes reach ages of 20-50 years old before their sole spawning migration to the Sargasso Sea. A record exists of an American eel living 88 years in captivity (Gail Wippelhauser, Maine Department of Marine Resources, personal communication to Douglas Watts, 1996).

The executive summary of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel (2000) states:

"The American eel occupies and is exploited in fresh, brackish and coastal waters along the Atlantic from the southern tip of Greenland to northeastern South America. The species has a catadromous life cycle, reproducing only in the Sargasso Sea and spending the majority of its life in freshwater. After hatching and ocean drift, initially in the pre-larval state and then in the leptocephalus phase, metamorphosis occurs. In most areas, glass eel enter the nearshore area, although there have been reports of leptocephalus found in freshwater. Glass eel, elvers, yellow and silver eel are found in the marine environment during part of their life cycle. Elvers, yellow eels and silver eel also make extensive use of freshwater systems."

The full text of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel (2000) provides a detailed description of what is currently known of the life history, habits and habitat requirements of the American eel. This Plan is included with this petition as Appendix A and its contents are incorporated into this petition by reference.

B. Use of American Eel by Humans

Humans have watched, caught and eaten American eel living in the waters of United States of America since the last Ice Age.

In 1991, a prehistoric wooden-stake fish weir was discovered at the mouth of Alder Stream on Sebasticook Lake in Newport, Maine. Radio-carbon dating of the wooden stakes by archaeologists with the University of Maine at Farmington revealed the sharpened wooden stakes of the fish weir range in age from 5,800 to 1,700 years old. The Sebasticook Lake fish weir is the oldest known fish weir in North America (Bruce Bourque, Chief Archaeologist, Maine State Museum, personal communication to Douglas Watts, October 2004).

The location of the Sebasticook Lake fish weir, at the mouth of Alder Stream, suggests it was used to capture female American eels during their fall migration to the Sebasticook River, the Kennebec River and the Atlantic Ocean. Since the 18th century, a rapids at the end of a long deadwater on the Sebasticook River in Burnham, Maine is called "Eel Weir Rips" due to long-term use of the site to catch female American eels during their migration to the Atlantic Ocean.

The downstream "V" orientation of a prehistoric stone fish weir on the Satucket River in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts suggests it was used by Native Americans to capture female American eels moving downstream from Monponsett and Robbins Ponds during their fall migration to Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Lithic artifacts found at the weir by archaeologists with Bridgewater State College date the Satucket River stone fish weir to 2,500 B.P.

Dohne (2004) states of the Susquehanna River:

"Long before the rivers were dammed and polluted by the white man, the American Indians were well-acquainted with the autumn migration of the eel. Swatara, as in Swatara Twp. and Swatara Creek, is the anglicized word for a Susquehannock Indian term meaning "where we eat eels." With a caloric value six times that of any other freshwater fish, the eel was a prized catch, tasting somewhat like chicken, though quite bony. It was
smoked for winter and "travel" rations. Weirs, or V-shaped rock formations pointing downriver, were fashioned to funnel migrating adult eels into basketlike traps. In some stretches of the lower Susquehanna, remnants of weirs can be spotted during low-water
conditions."

Eckstorm (1938) states that Kenduskeag Stream, a tributary of the Penobscot River entering tidal waters at Bangor, Maine receives its name as an "eel spearing place" in the Penobscot Indian language. Eckstorm states the name of tidal stream on the Kennebec River in Pittston, Maine -- Nehumkeag Brook -- has a similar derivation and meaning.

ASMFC (2000) states: "Since the early 17th century, Native Americans have harvested eel for food and cultural sustenance. Today, commercial and recreational fisheries for American eel are seasonal, but remain economically important by providing both direct and indirect employment ... Since the fishery's peak in the mid 1970s at 3.5 million pounds, commercial landings have declined significantly to a near record low of 868,215 pounds in 2001. Recreational data concerning eel harvest appears to indicate a decline in abundance. According to the NMFS Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey, recreational harvest in 2001 was 10,805 eel, a significant decrease from the peak of 106,968 eel in 1982."

ASMFC (2000) further states: "Harvest pressure and habitat loss are listed as the primary causes of any possible historic and recent decline in abundance of American eel (Castonguay et al. 1994a and 1994b). Several factors contribute to the risk that heavy harvest may adversely affect eel populations: (1) American eel mature slowly, requiring 7 to 30+ years to attain sexual maturity; (2) glass eel aggregate seasonally to migrate; (3) yellow eel harvest is cumulative stress, over multiple years, on the same year class; and (4) all eel mortality is pre-spawning mortality."

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