A seafood dealer based out of New York, U.S.A., pleaded guilty last week to trafficking more than USD 150,000 (EUR 141,663) worth of baby eels, reported the Associated Press.
Tommy Water Zhou delivered a guilty plea on 5 April to charges he illegally bought and sold baby eels, or elvers, which had been harvested illegitimately in Virginia. The only legal places to harvest elvers within the United States are Maine and South Carolina.
According to court documents, Zhou obtained an elver dealer’s license from the state of Maine in 2013, and used the license as a cover for his operation. Elvers can sell for upwards of USD 2,000 (EUR 1,888) per pound dockside, according to the Associated Press. The baby eels are in high demand from the Asian aquaculture sector, where they are grown to adult size and sold as seafood to Japan and other markets where eel is consumed.
Zhou is due to be sentenced on 12 July. He faces up to five years in prison, alongside additional fines.
