01/28/2026
Freeze Frame - Of Cuttyhunk Ice and Eels
By Allison Thurston
In the past, extreme temperature drops meant a frozen harbor and ice fishing for eels on Cuttyhunk.
For turn of the century islanders it signaled the tradition of converting fishing rigs into ice boats- for the thrill of sport and, more importantly, for eel fishing.
A forgotten island staple, the American eel remained a popular food until WWII.
In her remembrances of growing up winters on Cuttyhunk, Marjorie Snow Reeves,(1912-2000), granddaughter of David Bosworth and Lizzie Veeder, wrote:
"The harbor and outer harbor would freeze over. The men would spear eels through the ice. These eels made a delicious meal and we loved them.”
Eels were fundamental to daily life for Europeans and the East Coast natives on both sides of of the Atlantic. Eels were one of the most popular foodstuffs in medieval England: people ate more eels than all freshwater or marine fish combined. During the 11th century, eels were often used instead of money to pay rent. There were more mentions in the 1086 Domesday Book of rents paid in eels than any other in-kind tax.
For thousands of years, long before the arrival of Europeans, the Wampanoag feasted on ‘neshaw' (American eel), part of the natural bounty of the eastern coastal region and an important primary protein source.
The day after the 1621 peace treaty between the Wampanoag Confederacy and European settlers was signed, Tisquantum (‘Squanto'), an emissary from the Wampanoag leader, Massasoit, taught the European colonists how to forage for food. Their first lesson: how and where to catch eels.
The clear waters of spring required a trident-like spear to impale the writhing fish.
In winter, a multi tine spear was used through holes cut in the ice to pin the sluggish fish as they lay burrowed in the mud. As the eel slides between the tines, the tines pinch it, while the reversed points keep it from escaping.
Once plentiful, over the last century, the eel has vanished almost completely from the American table. Maine’s lucrative and highly regulated glass eel fishery exports juvenile 'elvers' to Asia to be grown and processed before being sold back to the U.S., where you can buy them at Asian markets and Wegmans. With prices at times over $2000 per pound, there is more illegal trade of eel than of any other creature because of the lucrative food market for it.
Until the middle of the last century, as much as 50 percent of the downstream fish biomass in rivers in Europe and the East Coast of the U.S. were eels. But since the Seventies, there has been over a 90 percent decline in their numbers. Once so abundant that they were a handy stand-in for cash, today,. according to scientists, they are critically endangered and nearly extinct. Key threats driving their depletion include high international demand, illegal poaching, pollution, climate-driven changes to ocean currents, habitat degradation and obstructions. Man-made structures like hydropower turbines and pumping stations on rivers throughout the U.S. East Coast interrupt the eel's lifecycle as they migrate both upstream and out to sea. As they migrate from fresh water into the sea to spawn, they are often swept into these structures and succumb in large numbers.
While the eel's snake-like appearance repels many people- remember them while you can.
Captions
1918, Cuttyhunk Pond, Ice boats
Continuing tradition, winter eel spear and haul
