Dossier
European eel
The stock of European eel is only at about 10 percent of what it was about fifty years ago. In this dossier you can find news, backgrounds and results of our research on eels and eel fishing in the Netherlands. Our research focuses on among others the propagation of glass eel, residues of dioxin in eel, monitoring eel by tracking with tags and the possibilities for eel protection.
Rules and regulation
European eels spend the first two years of their life being swept 5,000 km by the Gulfstream, until they reach our coastal waters in the form of transparent ‘glass eels’ measuring seven centimetres. They are prevented from entering our waterways by locks, but glass eels can wash through openings in the lock gates by the current.
Research on European eel
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DIASPARA: DIAdromous Species: moving towards new PARadigms to achieve holistic scientific Advice
- This project aims to improve scientific knowledge on the European eel and Atlantic/Baltic salmon to strengthen the science-basis of management decisions under the Common Fisheries Policy. -
Sex and Age in eel using DNA methylation
- The main eel-WOT task is to provide the EU with an estimation of Silver eels reaching the Sea. EU-DG MARE uses this estimation for validating ‘how well’ each national Eel management plan (‘aalbeheerplan’) is performing in reducing eel mortality. To estimate silver eel escapement a sex specific age based model is used which translates the yellow eel abundance into numbers of migrating silver eel.