Federal regulators will vote Monday on a proposal to lower the elver quota next spring.

Fishermen in Maine this year caught 9,688 pounds, which was less than the quota of 11,479 pounds. It was the fishermen’s first season under a quota system adopted to protect the species, which is considered “endangered.”

The proposal before the American Eel Management Board when it meets Monday in Mystic, Connecticut calls for retaining the quota system and lowering the limit to last season’s catch of 9,688 pounds.

The proposal has been endorsed by a seven-person subcommittee that met on Wednesday.

This spring’s harvest was far below the record 20,764 pounds taken in 2012, a catch that was valued at nearly $39 million and made the elver fishery second only to lobster in economic value.

Elvers, also know as glass eels, are juvenile eels that are born in the Sargasso Sea, south of Bermuda. Each spring, they migrate to rivers in North America, where they spend their adult lives before returning to sea after reaching maturity. Ninety-eight percent of elver landings in the United States occur in Maine. The elvers are shipped to Japan, where they are raised to adulthood in aquaculture operations.