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13.11.2018Slide 1

FAO Regional Conference on River Habitat Restauration

Eel Habitat and

Combating IUU Fishing

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Hanel

Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology, Hamburg, Germany

Bucharest, 13.11.2018

13.11.2018Slide 2


The European eel life cycle

13.11.2018Slide 3


Glass eel recruitment in % of the mean of the years1960 to 1979 (46 time series)

- North Sea 2.1%- Elsewhere Europe 10.1%

EIFAAC/ICES/GFCM WGEEL, 2018

13.11.2018Slide 4


Measures against the Decline

• Since 2009: European eel listed under CITES Appendix II

(species that are not necessarily now threatened with

extinction, but that may become so unless trade is closely

controlle); together with Polar bear, Asian cobras, …

• Since 2010: Import and export ban at EU external borders

„Trade Restrictions“

Kolloquium Zoologie, Uni Graz, 29.05.2013

13.11.2018Slide 5


European Council Regulation for the recovery of the eel stock (2007)

• Reduction of effort or catches by at least 50% in coastal

waters

• Eel Management Plans on river basin level -» escapement of

40% of the silver eel biomass relative to B0, the estimate

without anthropogenic influences

• 60% of eels < 12 cm reserved for restocking

Measures against the Decline

13.11.2018Slide 6


Current map of Eel Management Units (EMUs)

EIFAAC/ICES/GFCM WGEEL, 2018

13.11.2018Slide 7


Advice of the International Council of the Exloration of the Sea (ICES, 2018)

Precautionary Approach

- All anthropogenic impacts (fisheries at all stages,

hydropower, pollution) decreasing silver eel

escapement be reduced to zero

- Prior to any stocking activity to increase silver eel

escapement and thus aid stock recovery, an estimation

of the prospective net benefit should be made

ICES, November 2018

13.11.2018Slide 8


Why is the advice based on the precautionary approach?

13.11.2018Slide 9


20172.224 t

EIFAAC/ICES WGEEL, 2017

Reported commercial landings(Yellow and Silver eels combined)

13.11.2018Slide 10



Reported commercial landings(Yellow and Silver eels combined)

20172.224 t

13.11.2018Slide 11


Countries reporting commercial yellow and silvereel landings to EIFAAC/ICES WGEEL


13.11.2018Slide 12


Reported recreational landings(Yellow and Silver eels combined)

2017261 t


13.11.2018Slide 13


Reported recreational landings(Yellow and Silver eels combined)

2017161 t


13.11.2018Slide 14


2017/2018:

Commercial: 58.6 t

Recreational: 2 t

Reported glass eel landings


13.11.2018Slide 15


IUU fishing / Illegal Exports

Sustainable Eel Group (SEG) 2018: Criminals Trafficked110 Million Eels to Asia so far this Season

Gangs are thought to be smuggling up to 350 million live eels(= 100 t) from Europe and shipping them to Asia every singleyear.

13.11.2018Slide 16


IUU fishing / Illegal Exports

Reference: Sustainable Eel Group 2018

Sources: Bornarel et al 2017 (2015 recruitment estimate: 440 t); SEG-Report-2018-1-V1 (aquaculture, restocking, illegallyexported from legal catch); EUROPOL press release (illegal export estimate: 100 t)

https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-abstract/75/2/541/4259273?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.sustainableeelgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SEG-Report-2018-1-V1-1.pdf

https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/glass-eel-traffickers-earned-more-eur-37-million-illegal-exports-to-asia

13.11.2018Slide 17


EIFAAC/ICES, 2011

Eel Stocking as a Measure for Stock Recovery?

Stocking

Aquaculture

Unknown Fate

13.11.2018Slide 18


Management Failure?

- Total landings and effort data incomplete (high level of IUU

fishing)

- Inconsistencies in reporting by, and between, countries

- EC Regulation never evaluated for its conformity with the

precautionary approach

- Progress Reports of the EU Member States 2015 and 2018

not yet post-evaluated

- No internationally coordinated management plan

- Ongoing scientific debate of the value of eel stocking as a

management tool for stock recovery

13.11.2018Slide 19


Eel Habitats - Reasons for the Decline

13.11.2018Slide 20


ClimateChange?

Main Causes of MortalityLarval Migration Phase

13.11.2018Slide 21


Non-FisheriesAnthopogenic

Mortality

Main Causes of MortalityContinental Growth Phase

13.11.2018Slide 22


Hydropower Dams, Pumping Stations

ERN, Roberto Epple

13.11.2018Slide 23


Turbine Losses

Mortality dependent on:

• Turbine Type

• Velocity

• Fish Size

Average Mortality per Turbine 30-60%

13.11.2018Slide 24


- Coupling of Turbine Management and Eel Migration

Early Warning Systems (e.g. Migromat®)

Measures against Turbine Losses

Figure from Institut für angewandte Ökologie, Germany

13.11.2018Slide 25


- Technical Measures

Trashracks, Surface Passages, Eel Tubes

Figure from Bruijs and Durif, 2009


13.11.2018Slide 26


- Trap an Transport Programmes

Foto: Eel Stewardship Association, 2016


13.11.2018Slide 27


Do these measures justify the stocking of

eels upstream of dams?


13.11.2018Slide 28


Main Causes of MortalitySpawning Migration Phase

IndirectAnthropogenic

Mortality

13.11.2018Slide 29


Pollution Effects, e.g. PCBs

PCB concentrations of eels from the Elbe river (TEQ/g ww)PCB 126

Consumption limit (12 pg/g)

13.11.2018Slide 30


Ways Forward

Kolloquium Zoologie, Uni Graz, 29.05.2013

• River Continuity Restoration

• Reduction of fisheries related mortality (commercial and recreational fisheries)

• Improvement of Habitat Quality (including pollution diseases, parasites?)

• Reduction of Natural Mortality?

Mortality Reduction of Eels in ALL Life Stages!

13.11.2018Slide 31


Thank you!

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