Short Communication - Journal of Fisheries Research (2021) Volume 5, Issue 2

Freshwater landings in Europe are far greater than the marine fishery?

 The EU Council of Ministers decided in December 2017 to implement a limitation on commercial marine catches on eels exceeding 12 cm in length for 2018. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the fishing limitation using data on actual and potential silver eel escapement (stock indicators). The data suggest that fisheries exploitation of adult eels in the marine areas has relatively little effect on the biomass of silver eel that potentially can escape to the spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea. The 2018 fishing regulation for the marine commercial fisheries increases migrating of silver eels towards the spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea, from expected 10,000 t to 10,200 t, equivalent to 2% increase. Other anthropogenic mortality and predation may be far more important than landings of all life stages and account for 49% of the total loss. 

Author(s): Pedersen MI , Rasmussen GH

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