EU Plans Fishing Bans to Protect Threatened Eels
Date: 07-Oct-05
Country: BELGIUM
In June, for the first time, scientists called for a Europe-wide ban on fishing for eels, a species at serious risk of extinction in Europe. Eel numbers have sunk to the lowest since 1980 and could take two decades to rise again, they said.
Now, the European Commission wants to stop eel fishing from the 1st to 15th of every month until each country has a plan to ensure that 40 percent of adult eels can escape from rivers to the sea for spawning. All plans should be in place by July 2007.
Eels are found in virtually every coastal and inland water around Europe and along the Mediterranean coasts of Africa and Asia, providing income for more than 25,000 fishermen.
No one knows exactly where eels spawn, but the smallest larvae are found in the Sargasso Sea, south of Bermuda. They then drift northeastwards with the Gulf Stream towards Europe.
When they arrive, the leaf-like larvae transform into transparent juveniles called glass eels which wait for river estuaries to warm before swimming into inland waters. It is while they are waiting that they become a target for fishermen.
Recent figures show the number of new glass eels entering rivers stands at just 1 percent of historic levels.
