European eel juvenile fishing has been banned in England through early next year. (Photo: WWF-Canon/Rudolf Svensen)

Eel fishing banned until next year

UNITED KINGDOM
Tuesday, June 08, 2010, 00:30 (GMT + 9)

Juvenile eel fishing was banned until February 2011 last Monday to help halt their extinction in English waters. The ban runs under Regulation 10 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and violators will have a maximum fine of GBP 50,000 (EUR 60,356).

These eels are an expensive seaside delicacy. But although elver eels used to be common in these waters, their populations in European rivers have plunged by as much as 95 per cent in recent decades -- the lowest record since numbers began being documented.

“Given the critical state of our eel stocks we have had no choice but to introduce a close season on fishing for elvers from now until 14 February next year,” said Fisheries Technical Specialist for Environment Agency Sally Chadwick.

“If eel population numbers don’t improve soon we could reach a critical point of no return and face the end of this species living in our waters and possibly global extinction,” she added.

Eels begin their life as larvae at drifting on the currents of the mid-Atlantic Ocean until they get to the coast and develop into elvers. They subsequently enter estuaries and migrate upstream to mature in rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands for between five and 50 years; they later migrate downstream to the sea to spawn.

Theories as to their decline include fishing and changes to the habitats adult eels rely on to migrate to and from the sea, as well as changes in ocean currents and temperatures probably linked to climate change.

In Sussex, the Environment Agency has made efforts to replenish eel populations by installing 45 fish passes, designed to allow eels to easily navigate past man-made structures such as weirs and locks in rivers and wetlands. The Agency has also been conducting patrols to stop poachers and improve the availability of favourable habitat for eels via habitat creation projects.

Eels play a vital role in the diet of numerous other rare and protected species, such as otters and bittern.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has listed eels as endangered.

Related articles:

- French baby eels flown to Finland to replenish Baltic stock
- Northern Ireland eels suffer mysterious decline
- Dutch fishermen say eel ban puts them on 'endangered list'

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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