The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has been drawing attention to the serious state of eel stocks for almost ten years and calling for measures to improve the situation, but without major effect. This week a listing of eel under CITES Appendix II is being negotiated and next week the European Council is likely to decide on a long-term management plan.
For the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), a lot of things are in the balance over the next few days. It may come out the other end with the first serious measures to protect a population that has been declining since the early seventies, or almost nothing at all.
In the autumn 2006, Sweden drew up a proposal to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), recommending that the European eel is included in its appendix II. On 19 December it was announced that the proposal had been approved by the European Community. At this very moment, Germany, as the Presidency of the European Union, may be presenting the case to the other members at their 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP14) in the Hague. A listing would put in place new rules for trade with European eel, making export permits a requirement.
In the beginning of next week, the European Council will have its final debate on the Commission proposal for an action plan to safeguard the eel (COM(2005)472). This is the last of several efforts to improve eel management, and this time Member States seem to agree that something must be done. Next week’s meeting in Luxembourg is likely to result in a decision on a European Council Regulation, containing guidelines and specifications for the creation of national management plans on eel in each Member State. The target is to secure a 40 per cent migration of silver eel of each river basin.