PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 8, 2025
In the mid-2010s, the elver fishery became one of Maine’s most profitable. But legally catching the young eels, also called glass eels, meant following government regulations to prevent overfishing, including a limit on how many could be captured. Under those restrictions, a high-stakes black market for elvers soared — until a federal sting started taking it down. Joshua Viertel looped in his father, Jack — a retired Broadway producer living in Deer Isle — and they began cowriting under the pseudonym J.J. Viertel. Their debut novel,“The Glass Eel,” is headed to shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 9.