Melis Campbell
A piece of fat smoked eel is a traditional part of the Christmas menu in many households in northern Germany. But the stock of the fish is endangered. The environmental association BUND appeals to consumers.
Eel is a traditional Christmas meal for many families in northern Germany and is also eaten in other ways. However, since the eel stock is endangered, the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) is calling for an eel ban. “Despite its dramatic endangerment level, the eel in Germany can still be caught both for commercial purposes and for recreational fishing,” said BUND fisheries expert Valeska Diemel.
Eel is ‘endangered’
The European eel has been on the international red list since 2008 and is classified as “threatened with extinction”. The BUND is therefore also calling for a catch stop. “The new federal government must act as a role model when it comes to protecting the European eel and must ban all eel fishing,” said Diemel in Bremen.
According to BUND, there are only complete bans on fishing in commercial and recreational fishing in the European Union in Portugal and Ireland. In 2007 it was decided at EU level that every member state must develop management plans for its eel stocks. However, the design of these plans is different, explained Diemel.
The European eel is a migratory fish. The parents swim from Europe and North Africa to Bermuda, south of California. There they spawn. The young fish are brought to the coasts of Europe as larvae with the Gulf Stream. From there they then swim upstream to about the northern German waters. But in the end fewer and fewer fish came – for example because rivers were changed by dams in such a way that the eels could hardly migrate from the North Sea upstream into the inland waters.
According to earlier information from the Lower Saxony Anglers’ Association, the number of naturally ascending glass eels – as the very small young fish are called – has decreased by around 90 percent in Germany from 1980 to the present day. In order to maintain the stock, fishermen release thousands of glass eels in rivers and lakes in Lower Saxony every year. According to the BUND assessment, the effectiveness of this measure has not yet been proven and is scientifically controversial. “In fact, this is how the fishery for eel is kept alive artificially in the first place,” said Diemel.
What about farmed eel?
Unfortunately, all-breeding is not an alternative either. The WWF writes in its fish guide: “Eel farming is actually ‘eel fattening’.” Young glass eels from the sea must be used for breeding, as eels rarely reproduce in captivity. “Thus, the consumption of farmed eel also puts a strain on the stock that is threatened with extinction.”
What fish you shouldn’t eat
Endangered fish species that do not belong in the shopping basket – no matter how and where they were fished – include:
- Eel and dogfish (both are critically endangered)
- grouper
- rays
- Bluefin tuna
Alternatives to salmon
You actually wanted to serve eel at Christmas and are now looking for an alternative? According to the WWF, you may eat the following fish:
- Carp
- Arctic prawns, e.g. from the north-east Pacific
- Halibut (aquaculture / Europe)
- Herring (wild caught / Northeast Atlantic)
- Salmon (wild caught / Alaska)
- Mackerel (e.g. hand lines and fishing lines / Northeast Atlantic)
- Rainbow trout (aquaculture / Denmark)
- Real tuna (e.g. hand lines and fishing lines / Western and Central Pacific)
- Zander (aquaculture / Denmark, Germany, Netherlands)
Anyone who buys fish should not only pay attention to the type of fish and its origin, but also to the method of catching. According to the WWF, catching with fishing lines is unproblematic. Then you can even eat the bonito tuna. The experts advise against tuna caught with other fishing methods. Fishing methods such as trawling unintentionally end up in the nets (as so-called by-catch) millions of tons of marine life every year and destroy the seabed.
