Elvers back on the menu following biggest harvest in 30 years The transparent, worm-like fish have in recent years become as expensive as caviar, costing around £4 for a 20g portion, but now prices have come down to just £1.70. However, the increase in numbers this year has seen restaurants being able to offer the tiny creatures on their menus for the first time in decades. Andrew Kerr, chairman of the Sustainable Eel Group, said: "It is just extraordinary how many elvers there have been in the Severn this season. This year we could be talking about 100 million - ten times last year. The UK Glass Eels station had 1-2 tonnes in one night - that's four million elvers. The catches are the biggest for at least 20-30 years. Elvers, which are young eels that travel from the ocean where they are born to inland rivers and streams to mature, were once a popular dish in the west of England. Demand from the Far East saw their popularity increase and they became a delicacy in the 1980s. However, eels are now regarded as being under threat in the UK as their numbers have fallen by more than 80 per cent in the past 60 years. This saw many chefs, including Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, removing elvers and adult eels from their menus. There are even now proposals to officially protect the species. Elvers are removed from around the Bristol Channel each year to help restock streams and rivers around the UK and Europe as flood barriers prevent them from going to many of the inland waterways that feed the Severn Estuary. This year 660,000 Severn elvers have been donated for re-stocking rivers in this country. Fishermen, however, have caught so many elvers this year that they have been forced to find alternative markets, approaching restaurants to sell the fish. Peter Wood, from UK Glass Eels, which buys elvers from fishermen to rivers across Europe, said they had received so many that they had to turn fishermen away. He said: "No one really knows why the numbers are so high this year and no one had predicted that it would happen. It is good to see this rise though. Fishermen have been trying to find a market for all these glass eels, so they have been taking them to restaurants, selling them to family and friends. The Tigers Eye restaurant in Gloucester is among the restaurants to offer elvers on their menu for the first time as a result of this year's harvest. They are offering a plate of smoked bacon and elvers with egg and toast for £8.50. Robert Sinyard, the restaurant's chef, said: "It is rare for them to be available to restaurants so we wanted to have some. The elver dishes are just flying out of the door and I shall only be able to serve them for a couple more days before we run out.