The EU Fisheries Council have agreed to a roll-over of current eel fishing closures in EU waters to protect the 2026/2027 eel migrations. Regrettably the well-intentioned provision now contains so many derogations that the measure is not effective. The ban on recreational eel fishing in EU waters remain. In the Mediterranean region, measures apply in all waters, including freshwater, in line with the GFCM Recommendation on eel.
In light of the lack of any significant signs of recovery in the critically endangered eel population, 10 years after the EU eel regulation (1100/2007) was agreed, the EU first agreed on time-limited eel fishing closures to protect eel migration in 2017. Initially they consisted of 3-month closures preventing fishing for migrating silver eels on their way to the Sargasso Sea.
Since then, the closures have evolved to cover the glass eel migration as well, and a full ban of recreational fishing in EU waters. It has also been extended to a total of 6 months (or 3+3 months). On paper, it looks like a good conservation measure intended to support reproduction and recruitment of one of the EU’s most depleted fish stocks. Less than 10% of the population remains, and in the northern range less than 1 %.
However, the current version of the closures that will apply in the 2026/2027 eel fishing season is riddles with exemptions that defeat their purpose. According to the regulation now agreed by the Council, all Member States may permit 30 days of fishing during the main migration period under derogation (Art. 13.4 in the proposal (COM(2025)662). Fishing under the derogation can be allowed as 30 consecutive days, but also to be spread out on a day-by-day basis, enabling some Member States to tailor them to the existing fishing patterns and selectively allow fishing during conditions when eels tend to migrate, such as the moon cycle.
For commercial glass eel fisheries, on top of the 30 days there is a further derogation of 50 days of fishing provided that it is for the purpose of restocking, bringing the total number of potential fishing days during peak migration up to 80 days. Depending on how the derogations are used, this means that fishing can continue pretty much unabated throughout the peak migration, providing little protection for recruitment of new eels into European waters.
– This is of particular concern as the EU requirement for full traceability in the glass eel trade is not working. There is no overall system in place to ensure all the eels fished for restocking are actually used for restocking, says Niki Sporrong, Senior Policy Officer & European Eel Project Manager at FishSec.
Regionally, eel migration times may vary significantly with eels further away from the Sargasso Sea starting migration earlier. The provision therefore requires the Baltic Member States to coordinate their closures to “ensure an effective protection” of eels migrating from the Baltic Sea into the North Sea. Baltic Member States have failed to do this since 2023 when it was first introduced, resulting in a fall-back uniform closure from 15 September to 15 March – too late to provide effective protection in most Baltic Member States.
The eel fishing closures can also be tailored to the local fishing area – i.e. it doesn’t have to apply the same across the country – making it possible to tailor the exemptions from the closures to local fishing practices.
With European eel red listed as Critically Endangered since 2008, and the scientific advice clearly stating that zero catch is the only precautionary option in line with the EU Common Fisheries Policy, the European Commission has tried to tailor the eel fishing closures to provide effective protection – after miserably failing to introduce a full fishing closure in 2018. Closures have been extended to six months, wording like “prohibition”, “shall cover the month of peak migration”, “peak month for every geographical area”.
“A six-month closure, if set during the appropriate period, would cover the vast majority of migrating glass and silver eels and therefore provide a higher level of protection of the eel stock in the waters covered by the closure.” Commission proposal for 2023 (COM(2022)559).– While well-intentioned, the eel fishing closures have in some countries become something similar to “paper parks”. It looks good: six months without fishing to protect eels at key life stages. But push back from Member States has weakened the provision, shifting wording and time periods, inserts exemptions to a point where they are not effective, says Niki Sporrong.
– With the right intention, you can still protect eel migration fully but what we see is that this is often not the case.
The ban on recreational fisheries in marine waters remains. This decision is taken against stark scientific advice calling for zero catches of all life stages in all habitats and an already agreed provision in the Mediterranean including freshwater, and no signs of recovery after almost 20 years of EU-wide recovery measures. Only three EU countries – Ireland, Malta and Slovenia – have prohibited all fishing for the European eel and landings in 2024 remained over 2,000 tonnes.