CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF

• Main Authors: Ac Inf, Wild Fauna, Flora
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: European eel
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.646.1639; http://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/common/com/ac/22/EFS-AC22-Inf07.pdf

A. It is known, or can be inferred or projected, that the regulation of trade in the species is necessary to avoid it becoming eligible for inclusion in Appendix I in the near future. This species (the European eel) most likely comprises one single stock which is distributed in most coastal waters and freshwater ecosystems in all of Europe, northern Africa and the Mediterranean parts of Asia. For several decades the decline of the stock has been noted. In 2003 an International Eel Symposium provided evidence, based on the four longest glass eel collection series, that the recruitment of young eels to the continental stock had declined to as low as 1 % of its former level in the late 1970s (Fig. 1). The ICES/EIFAC Eel Working Group (2006) analysed the trends of all glass eel collection series up until 2005 and found that the average decline was in the order of 95-99 % in the period 1980 and until present. The need for radical management actions was proposed since eel does not fall under protection of any international law. The scientific community further argued that precautionary action be taken, e.g. by curtailing exploitation and limiting international trade. Export of juvenile eels (glass eels) for aquaculture in Asia (far outside its natural distribution area) comprised more than 50 % of the total estimated landing of glass eel since the late 1990s untill today. The long and