`Is that mackerel?', asks another of Frank Hederman's curious customers at a food fair. Frank smiles and patiently replies that the long, dark, smoked fish is not mackerel but eel. Frank has a smokehouse in Belvelly, Cobh, Co Cork, where he smokes and sells a wide variety of fish.
"Irish people are not very familiar with eels but that is changing," says Frank. "They are more popular on the Continent and in Japan but now more and more people here are eating them."
It's easy to see why fishermen can feel overwhelmed by bureaucracy when it comes to eels. Because eels live in rivers, lakes and the sea, they come under the aegis of a number of bodies. The Department of the Marine, the Central Fisheries Board and the Regional Fisheries Boards are all involved at different stages, as is Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the semi-state which acts in an advisory role and is especially interested in promoting Irish fisheries and aquaculture.
Just who owns an eel as it makes its way overland is not clear, but it may be advisable to check with the landowner before you wallop it and flop it into your frying pan. The ESB, which has owned the Shannon since 1927, supplies licences to fishermen wishing to fish on the river.
"For the smokers of eels, it is difficult to get a constant supply of wild eels and it would be better to be able to access them more readily," explains Frank. "Why are so many eels being exported, live or frozen, instead of being processed in Ireland? I get half of my eels from Declan Duggan in Arklow and the other half are wild eels from the Shannon, the Suir and lakes in Cavan."
Declan Duggan runs Aqua Arklow, an eel farm in Arklow. "We tried to fish Irish eels and market them but we soon realized that it just wasn't viable with the system the way it is," he explains. "There are too many people involved and the processes for getting permission to fish and land eels are too complex. So, we import nearly all of our eels from the UK, when they are glass eels and weigh only one-third of a gram, then we grow them to market size and export them back to the continent. We would usually have more than a million eels here at any one time."
All the equipment for the eel farm came from Holland. "It's the best," explains Declan, as we walk from tank to tank, each holding thousands of eels at different stages of development.
Arthur Clifford of Ballyhay Fisheries in Dingle, Co Kerry, who also smokes eels, is another of Declan's customers. "I have to be guaranteed a consistent fat content because I supply supermarkets," explains Arthur. "Also, I need to know the fat content before I smoke the eel because some fat comes off in the process. The only way I can get a consistent fat content is from the eel farm."
But Arthur, like Frank, believes that there is potential for an eel industry in Ireland. "There may be an element of snobbery attached to eating eels because they used to be considered peasant food but if you look at recipe books . . ."
Like others, Arthur cites Fr Kennedy on Lough Neagh, as an example of what can be done with the right organisation. Fr Kennedy set up a co-op on the lough which employs around 400 fishermen and sold eels to the continent.
The complaint in the Republic is that the eels are being caught by the ESB and sold to the continent, with local fishermen and producers losing out on all sides but the ESB does not think that an eel industry is commercially viable.
Gerry Gough of the ESB explains that its role is to protect the eels from the moment they arrive at the Shannon estuary until they are sold abroad. "Under the Fisheries Act of 1935 we undertook to preserve and maintain the Shannon," explains Gerry. "And in the late 1960s we bought out the eel fishermen. At the Ardnacrusha dam we have an elver trap and, when the glass eels and elvers arrive in late winter or early spring, they are caught, put into holding tanks and then most of them are transferred to Lough Derg. They have the best chance of feeding if they are put into the lowest lake. From there they make their way up the Shannon and into other lakes. In one year we would harvest about 100 tonnes of eels and they are sold to the Dutch."
From 1990 to 1998 the ESB and UCG carried out a survey on eel numbers in Ireland and found that the catch was always around 100 tonnes. Gerry Gough estimates that 1,000 tonnes are needed for the eel to be commercially viable. There is a demand for wild eels from the continent, though, as many of their rivers are polluted with mercury.
If one wished to fish for wild eel here, the first step would be to get authorisation from the Department of the Marine, as eels, like salmon, are monitored. Next, permission would have to be sought from the ESB.
"We put the fishermen on an eel team," explains Gerry. "And they have to give the eels to us. We then sell them to the Dutch but it's a non-profit-making concern. We will also sell eels to individuals if they want to process and sell them."
Gerry sees the future of eel production on a small, localised scale. "We would encourage people to get involved if they want to catch or process eels but I wouldn't see a large market for them in Ireland."
Jonathan Clarke of Bord Iascaigh Mhara agrees and points out that, compared to others, the Irish eat very few eels. "The Japanese eat 170,000 tonnes of eels a year and the Europeans eat 25,000 tonnes. I would see eels being tried at food fairs or small food markets around the country, but I don't think there is a domestic market for eels at the moment."
Christopher Moriarty, a biologist at the Marine Institute and an authority on eels, disagrees and thinks that an eel industry could be worth over £20 million a year to Ireland. "The total area of our productive waterways is greater than that of Lough Neagh," he explains. "So, if we combined all our productive waterways and estuaries and distributed the eels efficiently, I would predict a yield of about 1,000 tonnes a year, enough for an industry. We know there is a market for eels in Europe and we could do the processing here ourselves.
"You must remember, the eel is not a threatened species, but the fisheries are declining, so the government should apply itself to the management of the eel.
"I've been eating eels for years - I smoke them, fry them, grill them and marinade them. They're delicious."
The small producers agree with Christopher. They think the population's attitude to eels needs to change and eels should be promoted along with other fish. Eels, like mackerel, are high in oils which would make them popular as part of a healthy diet.
Whatever the future holds for the eel in Ireland, it certainly deserves more attention than it is getting at present.