01 Apr 2025
The UK government’s environmental regulator has started patrols along the coast to help protect the endangered European eel from illegal poaching. The Environment Agency’s Fisheries Enforcement Officers have started patrols along the Morecambe Bay and North Lancashire coastlines in the north-west of England to help protect the critically endangered European eel from illegal poaching. […]
25 Jun 2024
By Guglielmo Sonnino Sorisio, PhD Candidate in Ecohydraulics, Cardiff University and Catherine Wilson, Professor in Environmental Hydraulics, Cardiff University. The European eel Anguilla anguilla, a sleek, snake-like fish with a fascinating life cycle, once teemed in rivers. But their numbers have plummeted by over 95% since the 1980s. Behind this dramatic decline is a combination of threats, including […]
29 Aug 2023
A DNA sampling project seeking to gather information on eel numbers in the Somerset Levels has found the fish absent from large parts of the area, with man-made barriers likely to be a large part of the problem, ENDSreport wrote. Eel experts say they are shocked to find no evidence of the animal in the […]
10 Apr 2023
DNA testing has confirmed widespread – and probably illegal – international trading of critically endangered European eels. A research team led by the University of Exeter carried out “DNA barcoding” on products including jellied eels and unagi, which is used in sushi and donburi. With European eel populations at about 5-10% of their former levels, the EU […]
15 Dec 2022
The Environment Agency (EA) is celebrating a successful year for its eel passes on the River Great Ouse. It was revealed that over 70,000 eels had made the journey to Cambridgeshire from the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic – a journey of over 3,000 miles. The European Eel is a critically endangered species which […]
18 Oct 2022
Adult European Eels tracked to the Sargasso Sea for the first time, unravelling a mystery that has perplexed scientists for centuries. Scientists have unravelled a mystery surrounding one of nature’s most incredible journeys. The journey of European eels to their breeding place in the Sargasso Sea is up to 10,000km and has long […]
05 May 2020
From the Guardian, 20 April This is the peak season for the arrival of what is hoped will be millions of glass eels swimming up Britain’s estuaries to reach fresh waters where they can grow into adults. The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a curious creature with a complex lifestyle that is still barely understood. […]
10 Mar 2020
BBC: A seafood salesman has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence for smuggling an estimated £53m worth of endangered live eels out of the UK. Gilbert Khoo, 67, transported the eels from London to Hong Kong, hidden underneath chilled fish, between 2015 and 2017, a court heard. He was caught after Border Force officers […]
