The following news came from the EU Commission yesterday. It is to be greatly welcomed, but it will mean that it is unlikely that we will be smoking any Silver Eel after this year. We hope to procurte fresh stocks this autumn, but we will be ensuring that the river systems, from which we will be sourcing, have sufficient stocks to be sustainable.
“The Commission adopted its proposal for the recovery of European eel in October 2005. After lengthy discussions at the Council meetings in April and May, the Commission is glad that Council was able to reach agreement on the restocking measures that will be crucial to the recovery of the stock. Under the new regulation, each Member State must submit to the Commission, by 31 December 2008, a national Eel Management Plan that outlines the measures that it will take in order to achieve the objective of 40% escapement of silver eel (adults) from inland waters to the sea and to spawning grounds. A Member State may submit specific plans for different river basins within its territory. Member States sharing river basins must endeavour to prepare joint management plans. The management plans will then be evaluated by the Commission´s Scientific Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) before final approval is granted by the Commission.
Member States that catch glass eel (juvenile) will set aside 60% of their annual catch for restocking of European inland waters so as to increase escapement of adult eel to the sea. This 60% will be phased in gradually by 2013. In case of significant differences between the price of glass eel destined for restocking and the price of those marketed for other uses, the percentage required to be set aside for restocking will be temporarily reduced in order to counter the price discrepancies.”
Additional information can be found here and the full proposal can be downloaded here
[tags] eel, EU Commission [/tags]
That is good news. Though is it too little too late? The last I heard was that the French had vetoed any reduction in elver fishing as their EU representative was from the Loire estuary and hence under a lot of pressure not to allow any restrictions.