CCB Briefing – the facts about eel
CCB • October 29, 2017
What you need to know and understand about the eel, Anguilla anguilla
Facts about eel (Anguilla anguilla)
- There is only one single stock of European eel
- Eel is a commercial species under the CFP and MSY objective
- Eels grow very old making management extremely challenging. Example: old adult eels we see now can be the result of parents potentially born in the 1970s!
- Eel cannot be farmed, all eels in aquaculture etc are wild eels taken as juveniles
- we cannot “enhance” spawning by other means than securing an increase of out-migrating adult eels
- One eel saved in one river does not automatically mean a return of 100 more to same river – the eels may increase somewhere else.
On Wednesday, 28 May, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) published its scientific advice for fish stocks in the Baltic Sea . In response, environmental NGOs from around the Baltic Sea region urge the European Commission to propose, and fisheries ministers to adopt, fishing opportunities at levels well below the headline advice to safeguard ecosystem needs and dynamics and allow for rapid recovery of Baltic Sea fish populations.
Key Baltic fish populations are in crisis, warn environmental NGOs. New scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, confirms the poor condition of key Baltic fish populations, several of which remain collapsed (1). EU fisheries ministers must set 2026-catch limits well below ICES advice and prioritise long-term recovery over short-term economic gains.