That journey is now badly broken. The species is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, reflecting long-term declines in both recruitment of young eels and the number of adults returning to the sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read More: If you see parakeets flying near your home, it is not just a noisy visit: the birds may be telling you something about the local environment<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nAccording to recent assessments, glass eel recruitment in the North Sea region<\/a> is hovering at just over one percent of its 1960 to 1979 average, and around seven percent elsewhere in Europe, including Spain and the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\nResearchers and European agencies highlight a familiar list of pressures. Fishing of all life stages, dams and weirs that block migration, hydropower turbines that kill eels on their way downstream, pollution, parasites and changing ocean conditions<\/a> all contribute to the decline. In other words, this is not a single problem with a single culprit.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGalician and Asturian fishers push back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
On the ground, or rather on the water, many professional fishers argue that they are already doing their part. In estuaries such as the Vigo estuary, San Juan de la Arena or the lower Nal\u00f3n, eel and glass eel fisheries operate under tight controls, with seasons limited to roughly six months, regulated nets and ongoing scientific monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fishers provide detailed catch data and accept regular inspections as part of their license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They insist that this tightly managed activity does not explain a collapse that began decades ago across the entire range of the species. Their finger points instead to concrete barriers on rivers, poorly designed hydropower plants and the long-term deterioration of river channels where eels should be able to feed and grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From their perspective, a blanket fishing ban that leaves dams and turbines untouched feels like treating the symptom while ignoring the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also a social side to this story. In several coastal towns, glass eel fishing supports direct jobs, helps small ports keep their fleets alive and anchors traditions passed down through families. Margins are already thin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\nRead More: Japan sank to almost 8,000 meters below sea level, and what it found explains why the 2011 tsunami was much worse than anyone imagined<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nIf legal fishing disappears overnight, fishers warn that everyday realities like paying the mortgage or keeping young people from leaving the village will hit long before any ecological benefit appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Seized](\"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/illegal-european-eel-seizure-confiscated-anguilla-anguilla.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Confiscated European eels are displayed after an enforcement operation targeting illegal fishing and trafficking of the critically endangered species.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nScience calls for zero catches while policy stalls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
At the European level, scientific advice has hardened. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) repeats that, applying a precautionary approach, there should be zero catches of European eel in all habitats and at all life stages, including glass eels for aquaculture or restocking. So far, most countries have not fully followed that line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain\u2019s Ministry for the Ecological Transition, MITECO, tried to move closer to that scientific consensus by proposing to declare the eel \u201cin danger of extinction\u201d within the national list of specially protected wild species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ministry framed this as a way to honor international conservation commitments and to respond to evidence that the stock is outside safe biological limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To bolster the message, the ministry has found an ally in high-end cuisine. The chef organization Euro-Toques Espa\u00f1a<\/a> launched the campaign \u201cAngulas, no, gracias,\u201d urging restaurants to remove glass eel from their menus as a symbolic gesture in the face of the eel\u2019s critical status.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYet when the time came to vote, several regions with an active eel fishery opposed the strict listing, citing gaps in local data and the economic importance of the fishery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dams, illegal trade and the missing river plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Behind the political noise, a deeper problem keeps resurfacing. Scientific reports and European agencies stress that restoring eel populations will require more than adjusting fishing quotas. They call for reconnecting rivers by removing or modifying barriers, improving water quality and reducing every type of human caused mortality, from turbines to pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\nRead More: December 1938, a call from a ship and an \u201cimpossible fish\u201d in South Africa: that’s how the day began when Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer turned 66 million years of science on its head<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nThere is another uncomfortable factor. As the eel becomes rarer, its market value rises. Investigations cited by Spanish media and Europol<\/a> estimate that illegal trade in glass eels is worth on the order of billions of euros per year, with live juveniles smuggled to Asian aquaculture farms and returning later to European plates as processed products.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat black market thrives out of sight of the legal fishers now facing a possible ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What should happen next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For the most part, scientists, conservation groups and small-scale fishers agree on at least one point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without healthier rivers, any recovery plan will be running with the handbrake on. In practical terms, that means investing in fish passages, rethinking some hydropower operations<\/a>, cleaning up polluted stretches and tackling illegal trafficking with the same seriousness reserved for other organized crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt the same time, a rapid shift to zero legal catches would hit certain coastal communities hard. A just transition would need compensation, alternative jobs and perhaps a role for experienced fishers in river monitoring and restoration so their local knowledge is not simply discarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For people who enjoy eel on festive menus<\/a>, the conversation is starting to reach the dining room. Choosing not to order glass eel, asking restaurants where their seafood comes from and supporting chefs who join campaigns like \u201cAngulas, no, gracias\u201d are small but real ways to align personal habits with science.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe press release was published on MITECO<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European eel is running out of time. Scientists describe its situation as critical, yet along Spain\u2019s northern coast, professional … <\/p>\n
Researchers and European agencies highlight a familiar list of pressures. Fishing of all life stages, dams and weirs that block migration, hydropower turbines that kill eels on their way downstream, pollution, parasites and changing ocean conditions<\/a> all contribute to the decline. In other words, this is not a single problem with a single culprit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the ground, or rather on the water, many professional fishers argue that they are already doing their part. In estuaries such as the Vigo estuary, San Juan de la Arena or the lower Nal\u00f3n, eel and glass eel fisheries operate under tight controls, with seasons limited to roughly six months, regulated nets and ongoing scientific monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fishers provide detailed catch data and accept regular inspections as part of their license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They insist that this tightly managed activity does not explain a collapse that began decades ago across the entire range of the species. Their finger points instead to concrete barriers on rivers, poorly designed hydropower plants and the long-term deterioration of river channels where eels should be able to feed and grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From their perspective, a blanket fishing ban that leaves dams and turbines untouched feels like treating the symptom while ignoring the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also a social side to this story. In several coastal towns, glass eel fishing supports direct jobs, helps small ports keep their fleets alive and anchors traditions passed down through families. Margins are already thin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If legal fishing disappears overnight, fishers warn that everyday realities like paying the mortgage or keeping young people from leaving the village will hit long before any ecological benefit appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the European level, scientific advice has hardened. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) repeats that, applying a precautionary approach, there should be zero catches of European eel in all habitats and at all life stages, including glass eels for aquaculture or restocking. So far, most countries have not fully followed that line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spain\u2019s Ministry for the Ecological Transition, MITECO, tried to move closer to that scientific consensus by proposing to declare the eel \u201cin danger of extinction\u201d within the national list of specially protected wild species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The ministry framed this as a way to honor international conservation commitments and to respond to evidence that the stock is outside safe biological limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To bolster the message, the ministry has found an ally in high-end cuisine. The chef organization Euro-Toques Espa\u00f1a<\/a> launched the campaign \u201cAngulas, no, gracias,\u201d urging restaurants to remove glass eel from their menus as a symbolic gesture in the face of the eel\u2019s critical status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet when the time came to vote, several regions with an active eel fishery opposed the strict listing, citing gaps in local data and the economic importance of the fishery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind the political noise, a deeper problem keeps resurfacing. Scientific reports and European agencies stress that restoring eel populations will require more than adjusting fishing quotas. They call for reconnecting rivers by removing or modifying barriers, improving water quality and reducing every type of human caused mortality, from turbines to pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is another uncomfortable factor. As the eel becomes rarer, its market value rises. Investigations cited by Spanish media and Europol<\/a> estimate that illegal trade in glass eels is worth on the order of billions of euros per year, with live juveniles smuggled to Asian aquaculture farms and returning later to European plates as processed products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That black market thrives out of sight of the legal fishers now facing a possible ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the most part, scientists, conservation groups and small-scale fishers agree on at least one point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Without healthier rivers, any recovery plan will be running with the handbrake on. In practical terms, that means investing in fish passages, rethinking some hydropower operations<\/a>, cleaning up polluted stretches and tackling illegal trafficking with the same seriousness reserved for other organized crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, a rapid shift to zero legal catches would hit certain coastal communities hard. A just transition would need compensation, alternative jobs and perhaps a role for experienced fishers in river monitoring and restoration so their local knowledge is not simply discarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For people who enjoy eel on festive menus<\/a>, the conversation is starting to reach the dining room. Choosing not to order glass eel, asking restaurants where their seafood comes from and supporting chefs who join campaigns like \u201cAngulas, no, gracias\u201d are small but real ways to align personal habits with science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The press release was published on MITECO<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European eel is running out of time. Scientists describe its situation as critical, yet along Spain\u2019s northern coast, professional … <\/p>\nGalician and Asturian fishers push back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Read More: Japan sank to almost 8,000 meters below sea level, and what it found explains why the 2011 tsunami was much worse than anyone imagined<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Science calls for zero catches while policy stalls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Dams, illegal trade and the missing river plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Read More: December 1938, a call from a ship and an \u201cimpossible fish\u201d in South Africa: that’s how the day began when Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer turned 66 million years of science on its head<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
What should happen next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n