Eel management
The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is an
economically important species contributing of the biodiversity of
UK and European inland and coastal waters. However, the
number of juvenile eels entering estuaries across Europe has fallen
to below five percent of historic levels and the International
Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) judges that the stock
is outside safe biological limits.
The European Union has responded to this by adopting an Eel
Recovery Plan (Council Regulation No 1100/2007) which aims to
return the European eel stock to sustainable levels of adult
abundance and glass eel recruitment. Member State's are required to
implement national Eel Management Plans (EMPs). These plans should
aim to ensure that the number of silver eels emigrating each year
is more than 40% of the potential biomass that would be produced
under conditions with no human disturbances due to fishing, water
quality or barriers to migration. The EMPs describe the
nature of the eel population and fishery in different regions and
presents management actions that will ensure the long-term
viability of the eel population. EMPs have been drawn up by
the relevant UK authorities with each of the devolved
administrations and assessed by Cefas and Defra.
The perilous state of the eel stock has been further recognized
internationally through the recent addition of the European eel to
Appendix II (Annex B) of the Convention on Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES), and the International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species,
where it is classed as Critically Endangered, which is one
classification from Extinct in the Wild. Within the UK, it is
included in the revised list of priority species for the UK
Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).