I WRITE on behalf of any local inhabitants of the tideway area of the River Wye who wish to claim a customary right to catch elvers, without a licence and unhindered, in the traditional way, with a traditional net, in order to enjoy their annual feed of white elvers such as are only caught in the confines of the tideway between March and April.
I urge such people to exercise their right while they can, otherwise their children will never know what it is to enjoy this annual seasonal delight, which, hopefully, one day may again be confined to them alone.
The Elver Fishers Association has been formed out of commercial exploitation of elvering and it is right that they should be marshalling themselves into some sort of order and discipline, after all it is commercial elvering which has ruined traditional elvering.
Just imagine what the effect of an end to the exporting of eels and elvers would mean. Elvering would revert to traditional elvering – no more artificial conservation, no more rat-race tumping out, no more oversized nets and no more catching black elvers outside the season.
The old people used to say "Elvers in May stink in a day" and they didn't want black elvers because they were the breeding stock.
These were not caught and so went on to be the breeding stock for the future.
Everything undesirable about elvering is associated with the commercial aspect. Elvering was always a social occasion when people who might not have seen one another since the previous year met up again on the river bank and would speculate on where the elvers would be running on the incoming tide.
Sometimes you did not get many but if they were running well you could stay and get all you could carry, bearing in mind that you had to clean, cook and press them after you got home.
It was only natural to share what your family couldn't consume and because there were few fridges it was self-governing. It was an annual delicacy and once you'd had a good feed you were satisfied. There was no incentive for continuously going night after night once you had satisfied your needs.
The root of the trouble is selling them live and in no way should traditional elvering for home consumption be compared with present day 'Association' elvering.
There is no legislation that I am aware of which empowers any Elver Fishers Association to control or intimidate the traditional form of elvering, as was carried on before exporting started locally.
My understanding is that traditional elverers are free by their customary right to catch elvers to eat regardless of any rules which the Elver Fishers Association wish to impose.
The only elvers that were put back were the ones we couldn't carry and the only tumps we knew about are mole tumps and we wish they were a minimum of 10 yards apart! – Jim Simpson, Tintern.