Out of the River and Into Holding Tanks

Georges-Henri Lizotte, his son Pierre and his nephew Yvan show us the steps involved in keeping eels alive and in good condition.

Georges-Henri Lizotte and his nephew head toward a tank full of water while holding a big mesh basket containing a large number of eels. They put the basket in the tank. One of them takes a round stick and starts stirring the eels gently by making circular movements in the basket.

[An observer] That’s how you clean them.

[Georges-Henri Lizotte] It doesn’t hurt them. The stick is round. This gets rid of most of the slime (mucous). We put them in there (pointing to the tanks behind him). I’ll change the water and rinse them tomorrow morning. After that, they’ll be all right. We have to do this because otherwise they produce slime that becomes suspended in the water and enters their gills.

The two men take the basket out of the tank. They let it drain and head towards a scale. They weigh all of the eels together.

[G.-H.L.] 103 pounds!

[Yvan Lizotte] Where are you going to put them?

[G.-H.L.] Here.

They head towards another tank and put the eels in it. Georges-Henri Lizotte holds a thermometer in the water in the tank and takes a reading.