Episode 14: Can the eel still be saved?
Why science and politics are arguing about a fishing ban.
07.07.2023
The European eel is acutely threatened. Fishing is one of the reasons for this. While scientists have been calling for a complete ban on fishing for years as well as for the improvement of water quality and fish passage, politicians are struggling with it. What is the reason for this? And could the eel still be saved at all?
„We must clean up inland waters and rivers and ensure that the eel has a habitat that is conducive to its development. “
Maja Kirchner, among other things, responsible for eel stocks at the EU Commission.
The European eel is distributed in many parts of Europe's marine and inland waters. This means that it lives in more management areas than any other commercially exploited fish species in Europe. Glass eel or juvenile eel abundance has now been reduced to 1–10 per cent of what it was 50 years ago. For many years, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has advised a complete closure of eel fishing in the entire range, both for commercial and recreational fishing. Politicians, on the other hand, have for years tended to decide in favour of the fishers and against the eel. On one hand, this is due to the high economic importance of eel fishing for certain fisheries. On the other hand, eel fishing is regarded as a cultural good in many regions and its restriction as socio-economically unjustifiable. This makes it difficult to implement a uniform fisheries policy in favour of eel.
In this podcast episode, our guests Maja Kirchner, who is responsible for eel stocks in Europe at the EU Commission, and Reinhold Hanel, who has been researching this fish species for two decades, look at the current situation of eel in Europe from the perspective of politics and science. They explain the reasons for the decline in stocks and strategies for rebuilding, discuss why it is so difficult to find a common European approach and where there is no agreement among science. They answer the question of whether a general ban on fishing is the solution for the eel and which measures are justified to save a species when the cultural and economic consequences are as great as in the case of the eel.
Sources and further readings
- ICES information on the eel
- Report of the Thünen Institute for the European Parliament
- Sustainable management of eel
- Reproductive biology of eels
- Hanel R, Westerberg H, Marohn L (2022): No new evidence for an Atlantic eels spawning area outside the Sargasso Sea. Scientific Reports 12: 11778.
- Righton D, Piper A, Aarestrup K, Amilhat E, Belpaire C, Casselman J, Castonguay M, Díaz E, Doerner H, Faliex E, Feunteun E, Fukuda N, Hanel R, Hanzen C, Jellyman D, Kaifu K, Mccarthy K, Miller M, Pratt T, Sasal P, Schabetsberger R, Shiraishi H, Simon G, Sjöberg N, Steele K, Tsukamoto K, Walker A, Westerberg H, Yokouchi K, Gollock M (2021): Important questions to progress science and sustainable management of anguillid eels. Fish and Fisheries 1467-2960, 22 (4): 762-788.
- Westerberg H, Miller MJ, Wysujack K, Marohn L, Freese M, Pohlmann JD, Watanabe S, Tsukamoto K, Hanel, R (2018): Larval abundance across the European eel spawning area: An analysis of recent and historic data. Fish and Fisheries 19 (5): 890-902.
- Freese M, Rizzo LY, Pohlmann JD, Marohn L, Witten PE, Gremse F, Rütten S, Güvener N, Michael S, Wysujack K, Lammers T, Kiessling F, Hollert H, Hanel R, Brinkmann M (2019): Bone resorption and body reorganization during maturation induce maternal transfer of toxic metals in anguillid eels. PNAS, May 13, 2019, 116 (23) 11339-11344.
The lawyer and diplomat Maja Kirchner is Deputy Director in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. She is responsible for the sustainable management of fish stocks in EU waters in the Atlantic, Kattegat/Skagerrak, Baltic Sea and around Spitsbergen and in the international waters of the North-East Atlantic. She also negotiates with third countries such as Norway on sustainable fisheries in their waters.
Prof. Dr Reinhold Hanel heads the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology in Bremerhaven since 2009 and teaches at the universities of Kiel, Bremen, Innsbruck and Mindelo. Among other things, the marine and fisheries biologist has been working on the life cycle and management of the European eel for almost 20 years. He advises the German government, the EU, but also other international organisations and NGOs on eel.
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