Rockport's Millbrook Meadow Town Committee is excited to announce that the winner of its Annual Baby Eel Raffle of $850 was presented to Christopher Weagle of Ipswich (right) by Ellen Lidington, Treasurer. Christopher's guess of how many eels swam up Mill Brook from the ocean and into Mill Pond was 480. Actual count was 481. Just under 200 raffle tickets were sold for $10 each.  This fundraising event also added $850 to the committee's treasury for its efforts to protect Millbrook Meadow wildlife and beautiful plants and trees.   

​

Eric Hutchins, NOAA Marine Biologist, is leader of a group of eel counters who check the trap in Rockport's Mill Pond. After the eels are counted, they are released to the Pond, where they'll grow to 30+ inches, if a shorebird, turtle or fish doesn't eat them. 

 

Annual counts have ranged from around 200 to almost 2000. The data collected is used by state and federal fishery managers to better understand migration patterns and population status of American eel. The eels migrate approximately 200O miles from a region of the Atlantic ocean known at the Sargasso Sea to Rockport's Mill Pond.  Eels that survive to adulthood in 10-20 years will return to the Sargasso Sea to reproduce and soon after die.