Slithering From Science's Grasp

As in the case of rockfish and blue crabs, the drop in population might have revealed the dangers of over-fishing.

"That's the first signal, when people start to see a decline," said Derek Orner, a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "They said okay, we need more research."

Virginia scientists have tried to measure the population of young eels, called "elvers," coming into the Chesapeake Bay. Another unusual step was taken last year: the opening of the area's first "eel ladder," at a hydroelectric dam on the Shenandoah River in Millville, W.Va.

The eel ladder, which looks like a long pegboard, gives the eels something to grip as they slither 20 feet up and over the dam. In the past three months, more than 1,000 eels have climbed over it, far more than scientists expected.

Biologists would like similar eel ladders built on the upper Potomac, on National Park Service dams between Maryland and West Virginia.

Dave Sutherland, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said he's pushing for a screen that would keep eels from wandering into the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which provides some of the District's drinking water.

Now, he said, some eels grow to adulthood there -- only to realize they can't get to the ocean to spawn. He said he's heard accounts of giant eels seen wriggling around in frustration in the reservoir, eventually dying.

"That's pretty much a really wrong turn for them," Sutherland said.

The results have been modest: 31 eels have been captured and tagged this year, 12 of them more than once. But Sutherland said it's a significant step, especially "compared to nothing."

Pat Eby, an Anne Arundel Community College student assisting the efforts, used a towel to hold up an eel -- the fish are too slippery to hold with bare hands -- and admired it.

"They're very, very cute," she said. "But they're very, very . . . "

She paused, looking for the right word.

" . . . slimy."