The numerous lagoons and estuaries that surround the Mediterranean Sea form an important resource in the lifecycle of the European eel. A new report gathers all available information about the Mediterranean life of eels and should prove very useful to fishermen and other stakeholders fighting for recovery of this critically endangered species. The report, “European Eel in the Mediterranean Sea: Outcomes of the GFCM Research Programme,” was produced by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean and the Food and Agriculture Organization, with funding from the EU. It contains information collected over two years about eel biology and habitat, its exploitation in the Mediterranean, the many and sometimes conflicting management measures used by different authorities, and insights into the bioeconomic status of European eel. Information was gathered from Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, and Türkiye.
A key phase in eel life is their migration from saltwater to fresh or brackish water along the coasts of the Mediterranean, North, and Baltic Seas. But these inland waters are dwindling in quantity and quality, threatening the future stock of mature eels that are crucial for fisheries and for future reproduction. Climate change impacts on water temperatures and more immediate human-driven causes such as pollution and overfishing are creating red flags for all stakeholders in eel fisheries—industry, consumers, and managers. The challenges uncovered in the report’s analysis range from repairing or offsetting the impacts of climate change, to eliminating IUU fishing, to restoring habitat loss in rivers and estuaries. The last is a local problem with local solutions, and the others require international cooperation.
Another challenge that emerges from the report is how possibly to coordinate the many different countries encircling the Mediterranean. All want to save the eel but few have the means or willingness to join forces with everyone else in a single management entity. Some countries have limited data collection capability (some did not join in this GFCM/FAO effort at all) or they have data in a form that cannot be combined groupwide. But coordinated, common efforts by all involved are necessary to tackle the problems of a single, shared, geographically expansive fishery facing risks.
The GFCM/FAO report can be read at https://www.fao.org/3/cc7252en/cc7252en.pdf.