Where have all the elvers gone

[mh68]

Originally Posted by C C

It is interesting to see, that the American eel is also in decline. They also breed in the Sargasso.

There seems to be a common denominator involved then.Has there been any indication that climate change or another factor has affected their breeding conditions/success in the Sargasso?

Mark H

[C C]

Here's the link mark Where have all the eels gone?


Also, i found a small article, where it said. Half of Eels caught in Europe are exported to Asia. Japan alone, consumes on average 170,000 tons of Eels a year.
And that the Eel crisis is blamed on, over fishing, polution and habitat loss.

[mh68]

Thanks mate i`ll check out the link now

Mark H

[C C]

I have just been looking at info, on the Japanese Eel (Anguilla japonica). It is on wikipedia. And they are also in decline, though they dont spawn in the sargasso. Also it states, that all the angullid Eels..worldwide are in decline.

[mh68]

Maybe the changing sea currents due to global warming are hindering elvers returning to freshwater, at the early stages when due to their tiny size theyre reliant on these currents to help them reach their destination?

Mark H

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by coasty

: Class: Are you sure you are all taking this post seriousley

UH-HUH.

Doug

[Putnamsmif]

Immature eels, Leptocephali or thinheads as they are sometimes referred to rely on the Gulf stream and the North Atlantic current to bring them from their birth-place, and as we quite often hear that the Gulf stream is weakening, it could also play a part in their decline.

[fisherontheriver]

Something else I did hear as to the decline was the change of the Gulf Stream. That this has affected their migration routes and disturbed their breeding grounds. Anyone any more info on that?

[coasty]

Originally Posted by fisherontheriver

Something else I did hear as to the decline was the change of the Gulf Stream. That this has affected their migration routes and disturbed their breeding grounds. Anyone any more info on that?

I fear that this with fishing and pollution pressure is all combined to devastating effect,,,

[coasty]

The Environment Agency’s fisheries team will next week be stocking nearly 70,000 elvers at two locations in Yorkshire and Derbyshire to give a helping hand to this increasingly threatened species.

On Monday 26 March officers will stock the River Aire at Rodley with 63,000 elvers, and a further 6,000 in a lake at The Avenue Washlands Nature Reserve in Chesterfield.

European eel stocks have been in major decline since the 1970s and the number of young eels reaching our shores are thought to have fallen by more than 95 per cent.

Habitat loss has had a major impact on eel populations. Weirs, locks and pumping stations which have been built across the country form barriers, stopping the elvers from reaching their ideal habitats.

Elvers are young eels, and are around 7cm in length, but can take up to 20 years to reach maturity. The elvers have spent at least a year drifting across the Atlantic in the Gulf Stream. They then swim up rivers to find a suitable place to live and grow, and when they mature, they return to sea and swim across the Atlantic to spawn south-west of Bermuda.

Jerome Masters, fisheries officer at the Environment Agency said: “Stocking eels into waters that they can no longer reach by themselves will increase the number of eels returning to their spawning grounds. Stocking is very important for local biodiversity and eels form an important link in the food chain as both predators and prey.”

The elvers have been supplied to the Environment Agency by UK Glass Eel Ltd, and were caught in the Severn Estuary. The large tides of the River Severn act as a funnel, sweeping in larger numbers of elvers than the river can cope with, so despite the general decline in eel numbers, elvers can still be taken from the Severn without harming the ecology.

The Environment Agency has funded £9,000 for the elvers. The project is in partnership with Rodley Nature Reserve Trust Limited, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, the East Midlands Development Agency and UK Glass Eel Ltd.

More elvers will be stocked at The Avenue Washlands Nature Reserve next year as part of an extensive restoration programme at the former coking and chemical works site.

Just thought I would add this,, I came across this which I beleive was posted this spring on a fishing site...At least it shows that people are trying

[tufftie]

Sorry but I couldn't resist the temptation any longer!)

Where have all the elvers gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the elvers gone?
Long time ago.

(and i don't even like the song!)

Is anyone else have trouble with smilies today?

[coasty]

Originally Posted by tufftie

Sorry but I couldn't resist the temptation any longer!)

Where have all the elvers gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the elvers gone?
Long time ago.

(and i don't even like the song!)

Is anyone else have trouble with smilies today?

MY God ,,,,, and I thought it was only the black Rabbit that had a singing voice,,,,,

Well I still think its sad,,,,

[tufftie]

Originally Posted by coasty

MY God ,,,,, and I thought it was only the black Rabbit that had a singing voice,,,,,

Well I still think its sad,,,,

With this song I'd have to agree with you!!!

[Putnamsmif]

I'm sorry but I can't believe for a second that the River Severn has too many elvers to cope with! What absolute, complete and utter nonsense. If it's the Environment Agency saying that then frankly they're all lunatics, and if it's UK Glass Eel saying it then they're a commercial company and it wouldn't surprise me at all that they'd said it, because it certainly wouldn't be in their interests to go around saying that eels were in decline in case their qoutas were cut.
Locks and weirs have been around for a couple of centuries I reckon, and they never made much difference to the population before. It's another remarkable aspect of the eel that even at their tiniest most vulnerable stage in life they are quite capable of traversing quite large distances overland and weirs and locks never have and never will pose that big a problem to them reaching somewhere to live. As for pumping stations, well they don't pump water against the natural direction of the river's flow do they? and anyway elvers have never had too much trouble travelling upstream in rivers, so I fail to see how pumping stations could have that dramatic an effect. Why are people so unwilling to accept that as with so many other species of fish that over-fishing is responsible for their decline. OVER-FISHING, OVER-FISHING, OVER-FISHING, how many more times??!!
Apologies for that slight rant, it wasn't directed at anyone on the forum, just the powers-that-be, and their sometimes unbelievable idiocy.