The Hidden Side of the Eel Trade in Haiti

Eel farming has accelerated in Haiti over the last decade

A group of around 20 people holds the exclusive right to export eels within Haiti.

These entrepreneurs, members of the National Association for the Protection of Aquatic Resources (ANAPRA), abuse their power, according to industry players.

Testimonies and documents reviewed by AyiboPost, indicate that the ANAPRA members exploit fishermen by setting meager prices for this tiny fish in high demand in certain countries.

Some entrepreneurs, members of other organizations such as the National Association of River Eel Suppliers of Haiti (ANAFARH), see their operating permits not renewed without explanation or their application rejected by the State.

A partial list communicated to AyiboPost contains the name of at least one close friend of former president Michel Martelly.

AyiboPost’s efforts to obtain the complete list of exporters with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR) were unsuccessful.

Eel exploitation has accelerated in Haiti over the last decade.

The international demand for eel, particularly in China and Japan, is due to the high gastronomic value of this fish in the traditional dishes of these countries.

This popularity is exerting increasing pressure on natural stocks, causing the species to grow more rare while fueling a flourishing black market.

In August 2019, the MARNDR announced measures to regulate the market. Export fees were then set at 1,500 gourdes per kilo, compared to 40 gourdes in the past.

This regularization, carried out under the presidency of Jovenel Moïse, was accompanied by a « monopolization » of the sector to the benefit of the ANAPRA, according to several entrepreneurs.

The “small group of people” authorized to export “fix the price of the products, which remains disadvantageous for the entire chain,” decries Jésubon Nancy, president of ANAFARH, to AyiboPost.

Nancy had an export license in 2015, renewed annually during each fishing season. But in 2018, he was excluded from the market, along with several other exporters not part of the ANAPRA.

To obtain the permit, the ministry requires at least three years of experience in the export of eels, a tax number and a business license duly registered with the Ministry of Commerce, as well as the professional identity card belonging to the entrepreneur.

“I met all the required criteria, but my quest to obtain an export license has remained in vain ever since,” Nancy reveals to AyiboPost.

The exclusion of exporters who are not members of the ANAPRA is accompanied by a drastic drop in the purchase price of eel.

According to supplier Jameson Gustin, small fishermen sold a gram of eels for between 500 and 600 gourdes before Jovenel Moïse’s presidency. Today, she says, a gram of this small fish sells for 150 – 200 gourdes.

“We are forced to comply with the prices set by the export license holders, because there is no longer any diversity on the market,” denounces Nancy.

She accuses ANAPRA, with support from the Haitian State, of monopolizing export licenses for the eel market.

Haiti exported 173,506 tonnes of eels for nearly $13 million dollars during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to the General Administration of Customs (AGD). The previous fiscal year closed at $9 million dollars for 145,093 tonnes.

A former Secretary of State for Animal Production within the MARNDR does not rule out the concept of a « monopoly » to describe the ANAPRA cartel’s hold over the eel sector.

This former executive requests anonymity due to the dangerous nature of the subject matter. Several actors have cited money laundering, particularly money derived from drug trafficking, linked to the export of eel. Allegations that ANAPRA rejects.

For almost six years, individuals who have obtained export permits have all been members and affiliates to ANAPRA, according to the former Secretary of State. It is not clear whether these individuals work in concert or whether each owns a separate business.

According to a former executive, familiar with the operations of the sector, the Haitian State granted nearly 30 to 35 export licenses around 2016 and 2017. Today, this number fluctuates between 18 and 20 licenses granted each fishing season.

Legally, ANAPRA is a non-profit organization working in fishing.

According to Damourude Lazarre, coordinator of the initiative, the association created in 2018 includes around 20 companies operating in the eel exploitation sector for almost 15 years.

“These are the entrepreneurs, business leaders within the association, who collaborated to structure the market in Haiti without any relationship with ANAPRA,” Lazarre continues to AyiboPost.

The structure now has nearly 100 members, including 23 with their eel export license, reveals Lazarre. When asked about the identity of these exporters, the coordinator wished to keep this information confidential.

The advantages granted to ANAPRA by the State continue to create tension among stakeholders in the chain of exploitation of eels, a species endemic to Haiti.

Frustrated ANAFARH entrepreneurs have organized several demonstrations in recent months in Jérémie to denounce what they deem an “inequality”.

“A fair market for everyone is simply what we are asking for!” declares Elson Paul, owner of the C.S. Fruit et Mer in Port-de-Paix.

Since 2020, Paul has unsuccessfully sought to obtain an export license. He maintains that he has completed all the necessary procedures with the MARNDR each year.

AyiboPost’s requests for comment from MARNDR were not successful.

“A fair market for all, that’s simply what we’re asking for!”

“The sector could contribute to the development of the country if it was not privatized by the exclusivity of the ANAPRA to the detriment of the vast majority of players investing in the sector,” Johnny Joseph, a supplier in Cap-Haitian, told AyiboPost.

The fishing season for this small translucent fish extends from September to March.

The fishermen descend on the coast at dusk. Equipped with their fishing sieve made of wood and pieces of used mosquito net, they work all night until dawn.

The eels will be caught and carefully prepared for rapid shipment to foreign markets.

Before the State’s decisions in favor of the ANAPRA, the business was profitable, several fishermen told AyiboPost.

But the market has been unrewarding since then.

“Sometimes, I don’t make it home with 500 gourdes after risking my life at sea,” Casséus Lavaud, a young 26-year-old fisherman from Jérémie, laments to AyiboPost.

The head of a family and an eel fishermen for five years, Lavaud says he is “exploited” by exporters.

By Lucnise Duquereste

Cover image: | Young eels, or glass eels, are traded for between 1,000 and 4,000 euros per kilogram in Hong Kong. (Illustration) PHOTOPQR/ »Ouest-France »/Thierry Creux

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