Eel research at Cefas
Despite more than a century of research, much of the ecology,
life history and biology of European eel remains a mystery.
There is also an urgent need to collect the information
required to support the new management plans required by the
EU.
We are addressing a wide range of uncertainties about eel,
ranging from collecting and analysing data from individuals,
through modelling populations in rivers, lakes and estuaries, to
satellite tracking of silver eels on their oceanic migration. Here
are brief summaries of our key recently completed and ongoing
research projects
Current research at Cefas includes the following projects:
We are Investigating the relationship between European
eel (Anguilla anguilla) production and characteristics of
different environments in river basins for
Defra. This 5 year project is designed to examine
and improve our understanding of the influences of the estuarine
and freshwater environment on eel production within selected river
basins. We are developing and applying state-of-the-art techniques
in acoustic telemetry, otolith microchemistry and GIS mapping and
analyses, in combination with tried-and-tested eel survey
methods.
We are Developing life tables for English and Welsh eel
stocks for the Environment Agency.
Within this 3 year project, we are testing, updating and applying
an eel life history model that can be applied to stocks in English
and Welsh rivers in order to address the assessment and management
requirements set out in the European Eel Recovery Regulation (COM
100/2007).
We have recently completed a project Developing
guidelines for best practice in stocking eel for enhancement
purposes for the Defra Fisheries Challenge Fund, which is
administered by the Marine & Fisheries Agency.
During this 9-month project, we developed an Eel Stocking
Assessment Tool (ESAT) to support rapid decision making for
stocking to enhance eel populations, to update knowledge on
concepts and best practice for stocking with eels, and to identify
indicative value ranges that can be used to parameterise population
processes in a quantitative model that can be applied from the
glass eel/elver through to silver eel stages.
Cefas leads a European consortium for the EU-funded
FP7 'EELIAD' project which is
investigating the ecology and biology of European eels during their
marine migrations. The project integrates telemetry, population
genetics, molecular diagnostics, otolith microchemistry and
advanced numerical modelling to address long-standing uncertainties
such as oceanic behaviour, the location and timing of spawning,
stock demographics and environmental effects on recruitment
success. A tagging programme is mapping the oceanic migrations and
behaviour of silver eels, using pop-off satellite tags and data
storage tags on/in eels caught from a number of European
rivers. The project is providing information and tools for
fishery managers to design effective conservation measures and
enhance the prospects of eel stock recovery.