The storied American eel was once one of the Vineyard’s most
valued resources. Even though the eel now faces hard times,
memories are still fresh of the role the American eel played in
Vineyard waters, where it was shipped to the mainland in
barrels. Generations of native Islanders regarded it once as a
staple food. Locally harvested eel was as familiar and as local
as boiled lobster, stuffed quahaugs and bay scallops sautÃ©ed in
butter. Linsey Lee, oral curator for the Martha’s Vineyard
Museum, marvels at the eel stories she first heard from
Vineyarders while researching a college paper on the subject.
“There is wonderful folklore about the eel,” Ms. Lee said. “But
you know, it isn’t lore at all. It is the stories about how they
caught eels. They knew what they were doing. They had done it
for so long. In fact, they knew more about the eel back then
than the scientists seem to know now.” Bettina Washington, a
member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has
childhood memories of her father Donald Mal