Haitian gangs are increasingly profiting from a shadowy and highly lucrative trade in baby eels, also known as glass eels, harvested from the country’s rivers and estuaries and sold abroad for thousands of dollars.
Experts warn the soaring demand — driven largely by markets in Asia — is pumping fresh money into the criminal organizations that continue to destabilize Haiti.
Known locally in Creole as “Zangi,” the transparent, worm-like eels drift each year from the Sargasso Sea to the shores of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Once they reach rivers and coastal estuaries, local fishermen catch them for export, feeding a global market in which the species is prized as a delicacy.
The trade of European eels has been tightly regulated under the CITES endangered species convention since 2009, but the American eel, which Haiti exports, remains outside those restrictions.
Despite this, they are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List due to severe overfishing and the inability of commercial farms to breed them in captivity.
The eels are exported to be fattened on fish farms in Asia, where mature eels are sold at premium prices. In recent years, CITES reports that Haiti and the Dominican Republic have become key suppliers of American eels.
To prevent endangered eels from being passed off as American eels and shipped illegally to Asia, the EU and Panama have proposed that CITES restrict the trade of all eel species.
If adopted at a meeting in Uzbekistan on November 24, the decision could significantly impact exporters and small-scale Haitian fishermen who rely on the trade.
Haiti, which is not a CITES member, says it has already taken steps to limit harvesting but admits it lacks reliable data on the industry’s size and exploitation levels.
Environmental activists and UN officials describe the eel industry as loosely structured, unregulated, and deeply infiltrated by criminal actors.
“It’s a sector like the Mafia,” said one environmental campaigner who spoke to AFP anonymously.
Ghada Waly, outgoing head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, warned that Haitian nationals are plugged into a wider criminal network that profits from eel trafficking. She said both political and economic elites in Haiti use the trade as a front to launder drug money.
A recent UN sanctions report criticized the government’s lax oversight of fishing licenses, saying the absence of controls has created an ideal environment for extortion, money laundering, and contraband smuggling.
Gangs often demand payments from fishermen and intermediaries, with illegal goods easily being added to outbound eel shipments.
High profits amid deep poverty
A 2009 Haitian government estimate suggested the country could export up to 800 tonnes of baby eels annually — a volume that makes the trade extremely profitable. Just one gram of glass eels — approximately seven to ten specimens — sells for $3.60 to $4.50 on the international market. In stark contrast, fishermen are typically paid only 50 cents to $1.50 per kilogram, a fraction of their true value.
Despite the low earnings, the industry remains attractive to local fishermen struggling through Haiti’s economic crisis. Between fall and spring, many spend 12 hours each night standing barefoot in river mouths, fishing with mosquito nets stretched over wooden frames — often without proper gear or protection.
One fisherman told UN investigators that conditions are harsh and competitive: “It’s every man for himself.” Hundreds of hospitalizations due to infections and waterborne illnesses have been reported.
Some environmental advocates argue the trade should be halted altogether to protect both the species and the vulnerable fishing communities.
“It would be better to end eel fishing and equip communities to catch other species of seafood,” said the campaigner.
As global scrutiny intensifies and countries push for tighter regulation, Haiti faces mounting pressure to clean up an industry that — in its current unregulated state — enriches criminal groups while exposing fishermen to exploitation and danger.
