The eel belongs to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (is a CITES species) and special permits are needed for export and import of live specimens and products made from them. The European Union has made a decision that no CITES permissions shall be issued for export and import of eels outside the European Union until the end of this year. After that, a decision will be made for the upcoming years, based on the new information received. “The current decision does not concern trade inside the European Union, but if the population condition continues to worsen, a possibility of adding eel to the list of species under protection is considered, ruling out both fishing and marketing of eels,“ specialist at the Nature Conservation Department of the Ministry of the Environment Kadri Alasi explained. “According to the red book of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, eels are in a danger of extinction and are among highly endangered species,” Alasi said. “The main reasons for extinction are human impact on habitats, for example, building of obstacles to the migratory routes of eels, and overfishing,” Alasi noted, specifying that overfishing of eels takes place in all age stages, but most of all for the glass eel. “Nature conservationists recommend minimising all kinds of negative impact on eels, to enable the stocks to recover,” Alasi noted. ”Considering the critical condition of the population, relocation of glass eels is also not considered advisable since it increases direct mortality and there is data that the migration ability of relocated eels back to their spawning areas is damaged considerably.” According to the data of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the current level of reproduction of eel population is 1–9% of its 1970s level, whereby the eel stocks are continuing to decrease. For example, glass eel stocks decreased by 50–60% during 2008 and 2009. |
