NEWS EXCLUSIVE
The Glass Eel Company are busy researching and restocking these mysterious creatures. But are the authorities taking the plight of our eels seriously?
IN AN era when image is everything, you have to feel for Anguilla anguilla, the European eel.
While many of our fish are under threat, silver-scaled, athletic species like salmon hog far more headlines than the bottom-hugging eel. And yet their plight is just as urgent.
Any clamour to stock eels or engage in detailed research is rather limited, even from anglers, yet this could be hugely significant. Besides boosting ailing populations, bringing eels back into our rivers could have other positive impacts.
To take just one example, their presence would lower the heat on other species such as barbel, as eels have been the first choice food of otters for countless millennia.
Where, then are the authorities when it comes to long-term planning and conservation? After all, only two futures are possible – continued decline or recovery.
OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES
UK Glass Eel Company manager Peter Wood is under few illusions about the challenges facing our native eels. While he is in the business of selling glass eels, the company also works hard to stock, monitor and revive existing populations. Unfortunately, it gets little help.
“We have a real war with the authorities,” he said. “We need far more effort because we are among the only people stocking and monitoring the exploitation rate – and we are just one small company. How will the EA come up with a management plan without data?”
The UK’s eel fishing industry, already in managed decline, has been surprisingly generous with efforts to restock. Peter told us that eel fishermen donated over 200kg of glass eels in 2022 although, last year, donations were not permitted. While the Glass Eel Company continues to boost rivers at its own expense, however, the authorities make re-seeding rivers very tough, efforts to restock the Avon being just one glaring example.
“The recommended stocking density for young fish is 300 per hectare,” said Peter, “but as we were only allowed to do so on the first few kilometres of river, this had to be done at 4,000 fish per hectare.”
He described their war with bureaucracy and its apathy as “a constant battle”, with Natural Resources Wales even less helpful than the EA, effectively blocking efforts to stock Cardiff Bay, which has been closed off with a massive barrage.
Meanwhile, another issue is the authorities’ lack of acknowledgement over the impact of man-made barriers, many of which are under the ownership of statutory bodies.
“The most serious problem eels face is loss of habitat and migratory pathways, stemming from the huge loss
