Joint EIFAAC/ICES/GFCM Working Group on Eels (WGEEL)

The Joint EIFAAC/ICES/GFCM Working group on eels (WGEEL) met by correspondence and video conference from September 7 – 10 September and 27 September – 4 October in 2021 to assess the state of the European eel and its fisheries, investigate the effects of contaminants on the reproductive capacity of the eel stock, discuss the findings of WKFEA, further identify issues specific to the Mediterranean region and report on any updates to the scientific basis of the advice, new and emerging threats or opportunities.

For a better integration of the Mediterranean area, new members joined WGEEL, providing data and support as regional experts. This is considered an important step in a continuous process to identify and address Mediterranean-specific issues and harmonize the efforts of WGEEL and the recent ‘GFCM research Programme on European Eel’.

The recruitment of European eel strongly declined from 1980 to 2011. The glass eel recruitment compared to that in 1960–1979 in the “North Sea” index area was 0.6% in 2021 (provisional) and 0.9 % in 2020 (final). In the “Elsewhere Europe” index series it was 5.4 % in 2021 (provisional) and 7.1% in 2020 (final), based on available dataseries. For the yellow eel dataseries, recruitment for 2020 was 16% (final) of the 1960–1979 level; the 2021data collection for yellow eel is ongoing. Time-series from 1980 to 2021 show that recruitment has stopped decreasing in 2011 but the trend thereafter is rather unclear.

Preliminary analyses of 160 dataseries on yellow or silver eel abundance show the potential of the yellow and silver eels’ series to improve the stock assessment. A comprehensive framework of analyses of the yellow and silver stocks through these series will, however, require many iterations of data collection, analyses and further data needs.

Mortality and biomass indicators have been reviewed and visualized, preparing for a future workshop on the evaluation of eel management plans (WKEMP). Spatial overviews and temporal trends show a lack of data for many regions and no evidence yet of a general improvement in stock status for regions with data. Overall silver eel escapement remains low and mortalities high. Doubts remain about the consistency of indicators across countries. The information provided on data and methods used for assessment are not available or sufficiently detailed to ensure transparency and reproducibility of estimates. These limitations and the incomplete reporting impair the use of these data to inform on the status of the stock at a larger scale.

A review on the effects of contaminants (in a broader sense: spawner quality) on the reproductive capacity of eel highlighted this as an important, but a frequently lacking, aspect of stock assessment. Monitoring of silver eel quality should be considered as part of new or existing programmes.

WGEEL supports the findings WKFEA and the suggested roadmap and agreed to implement the necessary steps towards achieving it. This implies further exploration and analyses of existing as well as the systematic collection of additional data. Implementation will require concerted data collection and assessment, which will require additional support.

In summary, the working group has focused on exploring and analysing the data collected in the WGEEL database for their potential use in stock assessment. This included identifying gaps in the available data, defining data requirements for specific analyses in future and developing procedures for the analysis of these data. Furthermore, the group reviewed the effects of contamination on the reproductive potential of eels and renewed their recommendation to consider these in the assessment of effective spawning-stock biomass.