ELVER numbers are booming and they're back on restaurant menus.
Numbers of the baby "glass eels" had declined so much that they were off the menu. But millions upon millions of them have made it to the River Severn from the Sargasso sea this spring.
It's estimated that there are around 10 times the amount than in previous years.
Numbers have been so poor in recent years that chefs including Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay took them off their menus. They remained a delicacy in Japan and commanded a high price but, the boom means it's dropped from £4 for 20g to around £1.70.
At their most rare, they were more expensive than gold in Japan.
"What a difference four weeks makes," said Dai Francis, of Severn and Wye Smokery at Chaxhill, near Westbury-on-Severn. "In early April elver fishermen, owners of Gloucester's elver station UK Glass Eels, and ourselves were calling on the Environment Agency to extend the elver season as cold river temperatures had stopped elvers from journeying up our river system.
"The EA made a much appreciated gesture and duly extended the end of the season by seven days to gain full advantage of the season's last spring tide. Since then and two spring tides later the elver station has been swamped with fish."
The smokery is siting tanks in schools including Highnam as part of its Eels In School conservation project to teach children about the incredible lifecycle of the eel.
To mark the end of the season, the smokery is planning the inaugural Severn and Wye River Festival on May 25 and 26 as a fun family day out with food, music from The Wurzels and fishing demonstrations.
Elver fishing is a longstanding tradition in Gloucester, and fisherman are often seen heading off with large nets strapped to car roof racks to their favourite pitch at night. Elver fishermen must have licences and some pitches are highly sought after. One of Gloucester Rugby's nicknames is the Elver Eaters, because of the city's close affinity with the tiny creatures.
