Extranet BSCW

Archives

INDICANG : this project is a summary of our knowledge of the eel and the quality of its habitats through the setting up of operations and monitoring networks at local levels throughout Europe.

The aim of the project is to set up networks to measure the abundance and the colonization of the European eel at a scale covering the central part of its distribution area. The starting date for the project is May 2004 and its duration is 3 years.

Background:

The project is supported by 7 regions of the Atlantic Arc: Northern Portugal, The Province of Asturias, The Spanish part of the Basque Country, Aquitaine, Poitou-Charentes, the Loire region, and Cornwall in England. Its aim is for its participants to collate and share information. In the 7 regions mentioned 13 catchment areas have been targeted (see the map).

The catchment areas have been chosen owing to the presence of local scientific teams and technical groups that have been working on issues affecting eel fisheries in estuaries and factors relating to eel biology. There is also collaboration between the fishing industry, managing bodies and technical partners. One of the project’s aims is to share information between these teams and to provide a network structure to facilitate not only exchanges between technical and scientific partners but also between the people involved in the management of the resource (consumers, local authorities and public services).

Why the eel?

It is an important species for the economy in regions of the Atlantic Arc

The European eel is an amphihaline fish. It lives alternately in fresh water and the sea, spawning in the Sargasso Sea. Exploiting the species is of major importance for small businesses relying on coastal fishing in Southern Europe. Indeed when still in the juvenile phase the eel is ranked as the third most important species in value (€ 15.6 million) below sole and octopus and above hake. In 1999 juvenile eels (glass eels), in French coastal waters represented a value of € 33 million. Across Europe, 25,000 people gain an income from eel fishing. It is thus a very important species from both an economic and social point of view that is essential for small scale coastal, estuarine and inland fisheries. These fishing activities are very important for local economies.

A good ‘’bioindicator’’ of environmental quality

The eel spends most of its life in inland and coastal waters. The duration of time the eel spends in these waters generally ranges between 5 to 18 years depending on such factors as the site and the sex of the eel and thus is an excellent bioindicator of environmental water quality in lagoons, estuaries, rivers, lakes, etc. As it spends most of its life at the bottom of the sea, lakes or rivers the eel accumulates pollutants of various natures such as heavy metals, pesticides, or plasticizing compounds. The amount of pollutants inside the animal’s tissues can be measured and the history of the exposure of the eel can be determined. The distribution of the eels in the catchments also reflects the fragmentation of its habitats and can also be influenced by dams which are often situated very far downstream and make it difficult for eels to colonise inland areas. The eel has also colonised various wetland areas which are now disappearing. Consequently, eel survival, its conservation and possible expansion into habitats with a potential for re-colonisation is not only an economic and social matter but also an environmental issue at European and local levels.

A heritage in danger

The status of the eel was defined by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) as a species outside safe biological limits. The scientists from the eel working group have demonstrated that the European eel stocks are in decline and in some regions mainly in the North of its distribution area (rivers of the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Baltic Sea) the situation is critical. With this in mind the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management (ACFM) of ICES has proposed a restocking plan, coupled with a reduction in eel fishing, which will affect eels at all phases (glass eels, yellow eels and silver eels). It will also include a plan to restore habitats. This is a definite response to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: ‘’Development of a Community Action Plan for the management of European Eel.’’ COM (2003) 573 final, 01.10.2003.

The project

Eels are managed on a catchment scale helping to optimise the eel production by limiting factors linked to human activities that have a negative impact on eel populations e.g. fishing. The project is designed to bring together people from the fishing industry, scientists and technicians. Fishermen in this case are observers of the environment, and their observations are used along with scientists and technicians’ findings as well as data gathered concerning fishing practice (total number of catches, fishing attempts, number of catches per attempt, variability of the climate etc.) This is what enables us to obtain a systemic analysis. Fishing is not the only factor affecting the environment. Other causes also play a part e.g. the exploitation of water resources, the exploitation of the land for urban or farming purposes.

However restoring habitats and restocking the species in one catchment only cannot lead to improvements at a European level since the spawning area in the Sargasso Sea is fed by the all the rivers inside the distribution area. This is why networks of pilot catchments have been set up which allows an accurate and local approach over a wider and more credible area at a European scale and undoubtedly across the Atlantic. This is what our network with its concept of local dimension based on the catchments is about. It spreads from Cornwall in England to Northern Portugal.

This is why a partner group has been set up at each catchment to ensure that knowledge is clearly shared between the participants involved in the management of the project. This group’s ambition is to deal with biology issues, but also social and economic matters. Experience has shown that the management of the species is based on compromise between members based on biological and social factors.

The catchment group will monitor the implementation of technical resources so that data gathering can happen on a permanent and continuous basis. Indices must be validated and established according to standard methodologies so that comparisons can be made at a catchment level. This is the result of a scientific procedure started through the network of ‘‘thematic groups”. This network will be supervised by research organisations that will liaise with local technical bodies. The thematic groups are: “the glass eel recruitment index group’’, ‘’the silver eel escapement index group’’, and ‘’the environment quality index group’’. Their role is to assess observations in their initial states and the work that will follow in each catchment. They will analyse the methods used, have a critical vision and propose a technical basis to all the catchment areas of the network.

All the data gathered about fishing, the evaluation of the species, and the quality of its habitat will be transferred onto a database, summarised and disseminated in order to help managers, as well as local, national and European decision makers administer the species and its environment wisely.