PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine’s lucrative fishery for baby eels starts on Tuesday.

Baby eels, called elvers, are sometimes worth more than $2,000 per pound because of their value to Asian aquaculture companies. Maine has the only significant fishery for the eels in the U.S.

The fishing season runs from Tuesday to early June in Maine’s rivers and streams. It can also end early if fishermen run out of quota before early June.

The industry has dealt with big price swings in recent years. The eels sank to $525 per pound in 2020 and rose to about $1,850 last year.