Nice One Pete...I am sure your response will do a lot of good in helping the conservation of protected and endangered species.
If you want to do something practical to protect this species Ray, the SRT is always looking for volunteers to do fly life monitoring on our rivers as well as people to work in local schools where the issue of Eels is of major interest to many of the kids.
The SRT also needs cash to continue the process of building fish/eel passes on some of the rivers in the catchment, particularly the Rea.
I would also encourage individuals to back up the Angling Trust and the Salmon and Trout Association in making objects to the building of those hydro schemes that will have a direct impact on Eel migration.
Details of these initiatives are on the SRT website.
As far as stopping the commercial netting of Elvers, I would respectfully suggest that it would be best raised with local MP's rather than the EA as it is the minister and parliament that have allowed the continuation of the practise, the EA are only involved in so far as they are required to authorise it. The EA cannot change the law on this only enforce it.
You can also take the practical step of objecting to the sale of Elvers in any restaurants here in the UK (and also the sale of Scottish farmed salmon whilst you are at it another practise that is destroying a wild species for commercial gain). At present most of the Elvers are exported to the Japanese and Chinese markets where they fetch an absolute fortune.
The
Sustainable Eel group, is the body that brings together organisation involved with protecting this species and those involved in exploiting them if you check out its membership you will soon see how it is dominated by the commercial interests and the conservation lobby is in a minority. The assessment of the Elver fishing on the Severn (the largest in the UK) is
here. The proposal to build a barrage on the Severn, which hs been rejected once, but is being pushed again by the companies involved with the support of some organisation, would have a huge impact of Eel migration, far greater than the present licensed netting. One of the reasons for the rejection of the barrage is to protect Eel stocks and the commercial Elver netsmen supported the campaign against the barrage, so have been allied with conservation groups on this important matter.
By the way,
this is a great book about eels. Having spent a lot of time cursing the things when catching them, this book will convince even the Eels worst enemy (hopefully) of the value of these remarkable creatures.