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An endangered species
The European eel, a mysterious and fascinating species, is now classified as critically endangered. Since the 1980s, its populations have collapsed by over 90% in Europe. The elvers âeuros those tiny fry that swim up our estuaries every winter âeuros now reach our rivers only in small numbers. No one disputes the seriousness of the situation: the eel is disappearing before our very eyes. But the response proposed by the French government, in the form of a proposed moratorium on recreational fishing, has aroused indignation.
The European eel is an extraordinary migratory species. Born in the Sargasso Sea, it travels over 6,000 km to reproduce just once before dying. Its larvae cross the Atlantic, become glass eels on our coasts and then swim up our rivers to grow up. This fascinating, fragile and unique cycle is a reminder of just how much this species deserves our attention.
A moratorium that only affects amateurs
This choice is first and foremost a blatant injustice. Amateur anglers, already subject since 2010 to strict rules âeuros limited periods, minimum sizes, compulsory catch book âeuros would now be totally excluded. However, their catches remain marginal on a national scale.
In Brittany, for example, the total catch declared by amateurs in 2023 amounted to just 12.5 tonnes. In comparison, the professional fishermen of the Loire and Vendée coastal UGA alone declared over 25 tonnes of glass eels for the 2023-2024 season. And at national level, the government has just authorized a record quota of 65 tonnes of glass eels for 2024-2025, i.e. more than in 2010, even though stocks have continued to collapse ever since. The injustice is there: a ban on leisure activities, but an increase in authorizations for professionals.
Contested figures
To justify the moratorium, the authorities put forward an estimate of 700 tonnes of yellow eels taken each year by recreational fishermen. But this figure, brandished as a scientific truth, is widely disputed. It is based on old data, extrapolated from limited samples often more than ten years old. Since then, regulations have been tightened: night bans, gear restrictions, compulsory catch books and individual quotas. All these measures have mechanically reduced amateur catches. Continuing to use this figure today is more a question of intent than an objective assessment.
This statistical weakness also reveals the fragility of the hobby: in the absence of consolidated data communicated at national level, amateur anglers struggle to demonstrate the limited impact of their practice. Catch logs do exist, but their use remains fragmented and not widely exploited. As a result, recreational anglers find themselves helpless in the face of political decisions based on approximate figures, with no real possibility of defending themselves.
Money before ecology
How can we justify the fact that amateur fishermen, representing modest volumes often destined for family consumption, are banished from the rivers, when at the same time professional catches of âeuro glass eels at the most vulnerable stage of the âeuro species continue and are even stepped up? There's every reason to believe that money is more important than biology: glass eels, whether exported or used in financed restocking programs, or simply for human consumption, constitute a lucrative market whose interests we don't want to hurt.
The real causes of decline
By focusing on fishing alone, the project distracts from the root causes of the decline. Dams and other structures fragment rivers, preventing eels from returning to their nursery grounds. Industrial and agricultural pollution degrade habitats. Poaching, meanwhile, continues to fuel a highly profitable clandestine trade, despite the spectacular seizures made every year by OFB agents. To believe that banning recreational anglers will be enough to reverse the trend is an illusion.
For a real safeguarding policy
If France really wants to save the eel, it will need political courage: reduce professional quotas, tackle the elver market, restore the ecological continuity of waterways and step up the fight against poaching. Failing this, the current moratorium will be nothing more than a smokescreen, a symbolic measure that sacrifices thousands of enthusiasts without addressing the real causes.
The eel deserves better than a decision dictated by money. It deserves a fair, ambitious and equitable policy.
