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Eels

K

Kevin Daly

Senior Member
Another forum I post on (no not that one a pred fishing one) currently has a thread running about the plight of the European Eel. I personally believe the poor old eel is knocking on the door of extinction unless some dramatic action is taken. Now don’t get me wrong I hate catching the bloody things and I really don’t get fishing to try to catch one. However if you consider their survival and reestablishment is intricately woven into an amicable resolution of the otter problem it is imperative we save them. Before I get completely boring and heap facts figures statistics and dammed lies on you all, let’s see if I get any response.
 
Totally agree, though as no one is entirely sure why they're dying out we're a bit screwed. I have noticed on the Severn thread that a fair few anglers have been getting plagued by them this year, more so than in recent years from what I can tell. Still not at the dizzy heights of yesteryear when a worm on the bottom of any piece of water resulted in an eel bonanza!
 
I've had a few bootlaces off the Seven this year as well, I put it down to the fact that there are so few elvers returning to the river the elver fishers on the lower lower have decided they are no longer commercially viable and hung up their nets. This has allowed the few which do get back to the river to make it all the way up the river and not end up as Angulas a la Bilbaina.
 
Kevin, over the past 50 odd years i have noticed that things run in cycles you know, reach a peak, reach a trough and so on and on, one other thing
is peoples eating habits have changes a lot, once eels and bream were a regular part of a lot of the populations diet, i dont think its anything to do with catching them on a full time professional basis but, if the demands not there maybe the fishermen stopped trying elsewhere to catch them, so maybe their pattern of migration and returns altered maybe due to the warming climate ect.
 
There's lots of conjecture about the cause of the decline of the Eel but, no hard facts as far as I can tell. Possibly a parasitic infection, over fishing and decimation of glass eels in the tidal stretches as some of the proposed causes.

One thing is for sure though, something is dreadfully wrong and one way or another, it looks like humans are to blame, again.
 
It's been suggested that the parasite was carried by eels imported from Japan to feed the jellied eel trade which were carriers and escaped into the Thames, the parasite affects the swim bladder of adult eels and is not a problem until they set off to the breeding grounds in the Sargaso sea, a relatively shallow area, in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean, unfortunately because the swim bladders are knackered they disappear into the depths of the Atlantic ocean never to be seen again.
 
Has anyone heard of the glass eel industry? They net thousands and thousands of glass eels,(elvers) every year and ship them to loch Neagh for growing on before shipping to mainly Japan because the Japs have fished Anguilla Japonica (Asian Eel) to near extinction. Between 1998 and 2008 Europe shipped 8000 million eels to mainly Japan the glass eel industry operates on just about every major river in Europe.
 
Ade. The Eel swim bladder nematode is a nasty little ****** it lava is ingested by the glass eel as it enters fresh water via deep-water harbours where it was washed out of the ballast holds of ships who picked it up in Asia with its host various small crustaceans. As you rightly say it lives in the eel who never inflates its swim bladder until it leaves our shores to mate. It is however not such a big player as it first seems. Most of the misinformation about Eel Swim Bladder Nematode comes from research paid for by the glass eel industry. They use it to blow smoke over the real facts and figures about their netting and export activities.
 
When you ponder the suspicion that the European eels problems are down to excessive exports to Japan, then add to that the fact that Japan was/is the biggest mover in the drive to allow the mass killing of whales to be resumed...then remember the secretly filmed footage on TV of the Japanese fishermen herding hundreds of dolphins into shallow bays to slaughter them, which happens time and again every year....then the fact that the Bluefin Tuna fishing grounds worldwide are almost fished out, with that species now on the endangered list, and that this also is due to the demand from Japan, where a large fish can fetch $25,000....then you may think there is cause to be a little uneasy.

If you then add to that the fact that since the Chinese economy has now overtaken Japan's and become the second largest in the world, their insatiable demand for shark fins is now matched by their ability to pay unbelievable sums for that 'item'. This has meant that sharks are now being wiped out all over the world on a scale that defies belief...and that their demand is still increasing at a phenomenal rate....then your unease increases further.

If you finally add to that the fact that the bizarre ancient medicinal and cultural beliefs that still reign supreme in the far east means that animals from tigers, elephants and rhinos to snakes and lord knows what else are also being hunted to extinction....again because cost is now no longer an issue....then you might be getting REALLY worried.

I know I damned well am.

Cheers, Dave.
 
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I don't think the Japanese or the Chinese are the ones to blame - after all its us netting them and selling them for a significant amount of money.
Plus glass eels are extremely extremely popular in Europe - you will see them on the fish counter in Spain or France, and to cut the Anguilla japonica thing short - although they have decimated their own stocks, they do, I believe know how to farm them unlike the European eel. Which life cycle in general
seems to be a complete mystery.
 
Roman
A bit of the Sustainable Eel Groups properganda may cut the A Jaopnica argument short for you but even the lightest touch with a spade will dig out the fact that it is far cheeper to import our europian eel than farm their own.
I will do a serch and unearth the E.U. EUROSTAT/FISHSTAT report that shows 800,000 million tonnes of eel products (sorry I mised a nought of the first time round) were exported to Asia in the ten year period I quoted above if you want to question the figures. As I was making a point about our eel been eaten into extinction by the people of Asia who have turned their own eel into an aquarium fish I did not include our own historic markets in my figures.

Re Sustainable Eel Group. An organisation funded by the comercial eel interests who are paid to come up with smoke and mirror fact and figures to justify their continued rape of our eel resource.
 
i must say i find it all a bit strange, why is ANY fishing of elvers allowed when eels are in such decline...does protected mean we can only carry on slaughtering them bit instead of a lot ??
 
An excellent question Robert. I think the best way of priming ourselves up for a stab in the dark guess as to how this might be possible is to look at two facts.

(1) The profit from this trade undoubtedly runs into many millions of pounds.
(2) Over the last ten years alone, the levels of corruption that our politicians have been found to be guilty of is staggering....and that is only the bit we know about.

Add the two together...what do you get?

Cheers, Dave.
 
One of The Sustainable Eel Groups best wheezes was to earmark 20000 glass eels for restocking. A magnanimous gesture? It’s about a thousandth of one per cent of their captures and their success rate at restocking is to say the least questionable. It don’t half look good on their publicity though. Then when you look through this they are not hitting targets laid down by Europe. We are streets ahead of France though, they have achieved a big fat 0 per cent of their target.
 
Roman Vann said:
I don't think the Japanese or the Chinese are the ones to blame - after all its us netting them and selling them for a significant amount of money.
Plus glass eels are extremely extremely popular in Europe - you will see them on the fish counter in Spain or France, and to cut the Anguilla japonica thing short - although they have decimated their own stocks, they do, I believe know how to farm them unlike the European eel. Which life cycle in general
seems to be a complete mystery.
Click to expand...

Roman, I suppose by your yardstick then the starving fishermen from some of the poorest nations of the world are solely to blame for the deaths of the millions of sharks being slaughtered each year to satisfy the insane demand from China?

That the similarly destitute hunters from the poverty stricken areas of Africa and Asia are the guilty parties for poaching the lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos, etc, etc, etc which are being massacred to supply the soaring demand from China....and to a lesser extent other far eastern countries?

Of course the body parts from the incredible number of endangered species that are in such demand in that area are not going to waste, no sireee. A high percentage of them are used for things like improving virility and potency in men AND women in those countries, and you wouldn't want to stand in the way of increasing the birth rate in China, now would you?

Not only that, the dried and powdered animal body parts that are in such huge demand for the Chinese medicine trade don't actually kill that many people apparently....so you wouldn't want to cause a fuss over the fact that many animals such as tigers are being hunted to the verge of extinction to satisfy that demand either, I guess....

And the unknown thousands of dolphins slaughtered each year in Japan...the large number of whales that this same country STILL kill, under the Guise of 'research' projects...the possible total extinction of whales that may well occur if that country manages to overturn the ban on whaling...the fact that the B/F tuna is now reaching the point of no return to satisfy the same countries demands....who's fault is that?

Mind the sand doesn't get in your eyes Roman :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Quote: "Re Sustainable Eel Group. An organisation funded by the comercial eel interests who are paid to come up with smoke and mirror fact and figures to justify their continued rape of our eel resource."
Spot on!

Even though the Eel is now a UK protected species (on par with Salmon etc) and CITES Endangered listed, the UK Environment Agency 'still' issue very cheap commercial licences to profiteering commercial Eel Killers (especially to members of the above organisation -The Sustainable Eel Group), to murder as many Endangered Eels as they want for commercial profit and gain, especially from rivers.

However, if a Coarse Angler is seen killing just one Eel by the EA, he/she can/will be prosecuted and fined £2,000!

Hampshire Avon EA authorised licenced Eel Killers.
Fyke-1.jpg


Hampshire Avon - Illegal 'Out of Season' Nets containing dead roach, barbel etc owned and EA tagged by Commercial Eel Trapper, being dragged out from the Hampshire Avon after being reported.
C1-OutofSeasonFykeNetsRemoval29thMarch2010.jpg
 
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I think both responses miss the point of my comment completely, it's not the Japanese Chinese starving fat rich poor people im making a point out of - the blame lies solely with the people making the money out of catching and selling these things who most likely are British or live within Britain. You don't see squads of starving asains fyke netting lakes, rivers, whatever - it will be a good old fashioned Brit. Who happens to be making a packet out of doing so. As kindly worded it only takes a "light scrape with a spade" to realise that you can't blame a nation for coming and taking your stuff when someone from your own nation happens to be selling it at a premium. Correct me if I'm wrong
Dave having re-read your post I appreciate everything you say but what are you actually getting at?
Who is to blame is a fantastic question, it just seems to me everyone is all too quick to jump on
another country and it's peoples for eating everything - they wouldn't be able too, IF we didn't let them.
I don't think the man on the street eating eels even knows what the impacts of eating them are, its unlikely
that the majority of people importing them and selling them even know that and the only person who has any
real idea about it would be the person on this end of the line, in this country, knowing full well they are shafting eel
populations royally but are more than happy to do so if their misses gets a new pair of shoes each week.
 
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In the case of eels caught in this country Roman, you are probably right. It will indeed be our locals gathering and selling eel products. I also agree that these people are greedy, immoral planks with not a care in their head for anything or anyone that their actions may damage, so long as they fill their wallets. Unfortunately, Thatcher-ism guaranteed an endless supply of people like that in this country. However, I would turn your statement that it only happens because we allow it to on it's head. There wouldn't be greedy locals in this country over gathering glass eels (the seriously damaging aspect of this trade) if there wasn't a market for them, a market willing and now able to pay previously unthinkable sums for these products...and the far eastern block IS that new, fabulously rich market...and it's still growing.

I really don't understand your question 'What am I getting at' with my other points Roman. I didn't think I could make my point any clearer if I tried. However, I will try...just for you...however potentially risky that may be for me in this bizarre new 'politically correct' country we live in.

The far eastern peoples, those from Japan and China being the ones that affect us the most perhaps...could (IMO) fairly be described as peoples with extraordinary, fanatically held beliefs, fierce pride and extreme attitudes. Also, they still have what we might describe as arcane medicinal practices, their lives still rigidly guided by rituals and beliefs that have not changed since before the dark ages. The criminal gangs of Japan, the Yakuza, still frequently fight and punish offenders using ancient Samurai swords...alongside the Uzis of course...and are rigidly restricted by rituals and guidelines from that era.

In Hong Kong, possibly still the most modern and forward thinking part of China (despite our departure)...it is STILL utterly impossible for a new, ultra modern, multi million dollar skyscraper to be built without first consulting a wise man, to find out if the portents are right, which day would be most propitious to begin, which direction the main door should face...and all this guided by a host of bizarre rituals.

The problem for the wildlife of the world is that many of their medicines, preferential foods and other rituals and ceremonies are based on the bodies or body parts of wild animals. Sadly, it is frequently the body parts of rare or endangered species that are in greatest demand...in fact the rarer or more endangered the species is, the more that trading in/obtaining of these body parts is frowned upon, banned or declared illegal by the western nations...the more valuable and in demand they become in the far east. Add to that the shear size, the incredible and rapidly increasing populations of these countries....and the fact that fairly suddenly they are close to (and probably soon will be) the richest area on earth....and you SHOULD begin to see the problems building up here.

Obviously then they are a massive, incredibly rich and demanding market. A market that has relatively recently become obscenely rich. They can now afford to indulge in their passions to a degree previously restricted by lack of money.

Were I an eel, I would be very, very worried. Were I a male tiger, I would seriously consider having a sex change and selling the redundant parts...that way I might survive and get very rich at the same time. Of course my teeth, skin, claws, whiskers and assorted internal organs would still place me in some danger...but the most valuable bit would be gone.

Do you still not see what I am saying Roman? In very short order now, eels, and a great many other critters...will exist only in Zoos, and then history books. The western world started this evil, but eventually we recognised the problem and many organisations worked heroically towards changing the minds of our corrupt and greed addled governments. The 'New Rich', the new 'Super powers' in the coming era will likely not recognise the restrictions that the enlightened few in our countries had already forced through, the ban on whaling and an ever increasing and more effective list of other measures...and I don't think the worlds already greatly diminished wildlife (including the eels Roman) can possibly survive the new order. Change takes time mate...time these critters don't have.

Of course that is only my opinion Roman. It is quite possible that I have got it all wrong....it might even turn out that the new 'IN' food that will be fanatically devoured and used for all sorts of slightly sickening practices will turn out to be Garlic Spam. Now that you may find very worrying mate :D

Who knows?

Cheers, Dave.
 
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