English Eels

[theincrediblesmiffy]

Just heard somthing on the news.
"English eel numbers are now just 5% of that in the 1980's and no one knows why."
Any thoughts?

[nightshade]

I remarked on this a while ago,the R.Severn elvers are heavily fished
"some/lots always get through" this is an untestable lie,we are too good at
decimating wild populations and using maths for an alibi
"The Gulf stream has shifted" so why didn't the expensive scientists monitoring it
sound the alarm and tell people not to fish for Eels (it effected sand eels to the
extent that many sea birds starved)
The fact that people build houses (that flood) in areas where watermeadows etc.
allowed elvers to feed towards maturity
We mass trap mature Eels and sell them to Europe when they should be away to the Sargasso Sea to breed
I read a book which told the tale of an Irish lake which produced tons of Eels then
Nothing and people were suprised
A mass cull of stupid selfish humans would be needed to save Wildlife now and even
then the bodies would pollute everything

[Chiltern Chris]

I’ve just seen some research on this in the Thames valley i.e. Herts, Bucks, Berks, Surrey, London etc. The problem doesn’t seem to be obstructions in the rivers e.g. weirs, but a disease which affects their swim bladders has had an effect, as has habitat destruction and the fact that they are more susceptible to poor water quality than we realised. There’s also the things that Nightshade mentions. However, there wasn’t a single cause identified for the sudden decrease. The eel’s life cycle is complicated, with much of it outside our understanding or control i.e. what happens between here and the Sargasso and back. So I think the jury is still out on whether it’s a single cause we don’t know about or the cumulative impact of lots of smaller problems which have suddenly hit a tipping point.

Cheers, Chris

[theincrediblesmiffy]

The man on the report "claimed" he didnt overfish in his lake/river (I was listening rather than watching). But I guess that there can be so many reasons today why a certain animal or species could start to die.
I dare say he did overfish, because we hardly have any idea whats excessive as humans.
Too many people using an acient book to direct their modern lives I think:

"God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.""

[AndyC]

The overfishing argument cannot account for the nationwide collapse of eel numbers. It may not have helped on those rivers that are fished for elvers but there are many more rivers where elvers have never been fished for or have only had limited elver fisheries in the past and yet they have lost thier eels too.

There is some evidence that the sudden decline is linked to a parasite or disease introduced from Asia/Japan, a quick google turns up several links on this.

Andy

[Kayleigh]

We are responsible for the decline of eels, bees ect. what impact is growing GM foods having on the environment.( there is not enough evidence the experts tell us) What impact has pesticides had and all the antibiotics that are used in animal feeds. Contraceptive pills in the water supply no wonder we are killing our wildlife. There are no habitats left. We will be next.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I remarked on this a while ago,the R.Severn elvers are heavily fished
"some/lots always get through" this is an untestable lie,we are too good at
decimating wild populations and using maths for an alibi
"The Gulf stream has shifted" so why didn't the expensive scientists monitoring it
sound the alarm and tell people not to fish for Eels (it effected sand eels to the
extent that many sea birds starved)
The fact that people build houses (that flood) in areas where watermeadows etc.
allowed elvers to feed towards maturity
We mass trap mature Eels and sell them to Europe when they should be away to the Sargasso Sea to breed
I read a book which told the tale of an Irish lake which produced tons of Eels then
Nothing and people were suprised
A mass cull of stupid selfish humans would be needed to save Wildlife now and even
then the bodies would pollute everything

I remember sitting in the beer garden of the Red Lion pub in Wainload (sp?) right by the river severn and i was astonised at the traffic and sheer number of men with nets setting up along the banks to catch the elvers, I remember wondering in dismay how any population of fish can sustain that level of fishing and I remember saying to someone sat next to me about how can they think fishing like that is sustainable and that they must be fishing themselves out of a future income/sport and his reply was I guess the very essence of what's wrong he said ' no get em' while the going's good that's what I say!'

[demicav]

Humans are responsible for most species being reduced in number, why should this be any different ? It's a well known fact that people over fish. The problem is, unlike farmed animals that are constantly bred to keep up the numbers, which people are pretty much in control of, with animals out in the wild that are also being affected by other things such as pollution, people have no idea of how numbers are dropping till things get quite bad. People take more than they need.
As for building houses on flood plains I really can't believe anyone could be so stupid. It angers me that nothing in this country is safe from Mr builder and his concrete but these houses are not even safe from flooding as we've all seen over the past few weeks. Animals and people suffer due to human greed.

[ianmandy]

Typical BBC they can't get their facts right. Everything is sensationalised to get ratings. She said it will be the end of jellied eels wrong!! most of the eels for jellied eels are farmed. The only thing that makes causes the eels to decline is elver netting.A delicacy for the rich. If we ate chicks when they were a month old then there would be a shortage of roast chickens. Common sense the same thing will appen to any species.

[Charles Halliday]

Eels have to be caught to be 'farmed on' - you can't farm eels as they won't breed. We catch them as elvers and then sell them to europe who grow them on rapidly using the warm discharge from the cooling process within energy plants. The grown eels are then sold off to Asia for a big price. Elvers are worth even more. A very small bowl of elvers will cost you about £80. There has been a massive reduction in eel fishing in this country but not in the European countries. Elvers are caught and sold to asia through legal and illegal trading. We can't afford to have a jury out on this. I believe that eel fishing should be banned throughout the whole of Europe.

One other thing - if you you consider the build of toxins that prevented otters from reproducing in the 60s (DDT's and PCB's) and that otters favourite food is supposedly eels....perhaps the eels have had their endocrines disrupted too, but there has been a longer lag time before the consequences have become visible? As far as I'm aware, no one else has ever suggested this theory let alone tested it. If there are any eel experts out there, I would be extremely keen to hear your views on this.