Challenges in using genetics for European eel management: current status ...

• Main Authors: Maes, Gregory E., Volckaert, Filip A. M.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2006 - Theme session J 2024
• Subjects: Fisheries and aquaculture; Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Anguilla anguilla; European eel; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25258921; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Challenges_in_using_genetics_for_European_eel_management_current_status/25258921

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.Marine organisms experience a wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic influences during their life cycle, which considerably impact their population dynamics and genetic structure. Subtle interpopulation differences reflect the continuity of the marine environment, but also pose challenges to define management units. The catadromous European eel Anguilla anguilla (Anguillidae; Teleostei) represents no exception. Its spawning habitat in the Sargasso Sea and vast migrations across the North Atlantic Ocean qualify it fully as marine. But the synergy between hydrographic variability and a shifting climate in the ocean, and the impact of habitat degradation and overfishing in continental waters has brought this intriguing species to the brink of extinction. The protracted spawning period, variance in age-at-maturity, parental contribution and reproductive success, and the difficulty to sample the spawning region, all may mask a weak geographical ...