The Eel Regulation and Eel Management Plans Christos THEOPHILOU European Commission Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Unit A2: Common Fisheries Policy and Aquaculture Living North Sea project launch March 26 th 2010 Ghent

Eel Management Plans2 OUTLINE  Part I: Timeline of events  Part II: Content of Eel Management Plans  Part III: Evaluation of Eel Management Plans  Part IV: State of Play  Part V: Glass Eel and CITES

Eel Management Plans3 Part I: TIMELINE   18 September 2007: Adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1100/2007 establishing measures for the recovery of the stock of European eel   31 December 2008: Deadline for submission of EMP’s

Eel Management Plans4 TIMELINE   MS must report to the COM every 3 years (then every 6) on: The % of biomass of silver eel escaping to the sea The level of fishing effort and reductions thereof The mortality caused by non-fisheries factors and the reductions thereof The amount of glass eel caught and the % of these used for different purposes (export, consumption, aquaculture, restocking etc.) First report due on 31 June By 31 December 2013 the COM will report to EP and Council on the outcome of the implementation of EMP’s, up to that date. Based on the outcome of this report, the Commission may propose additional measures to ensure stock recovery.

Eel Management Plans5 Part II: Content of the EMP’s   Each MS is required to submit an EMP for each eel river basin (or one covering its entire territory).   We’ve received 70 plans from 19 MS - more than 5,000 pages.   Member States were required to refer to the River Basin Districts established under the Water Framework Directive in order to draft their plans.

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7  Goal of EMP: 40% of silver eel biomass must be allowed to escape to the sea (or downstream)  This is difficult to calculate for most Member States due to lack of data. Models have been used to estimate pristine and actual escapement.  Long-term objective – at least 2-3 eel generations. MS must give a timescale for reaching the 40% target. Content of the EMP’s

Eel Management Plans8 Content of the EMP’s  Most EMP’s contain measures such as: - fishing effort reduction (commercial and recreational): limitations in seasons, gears, minimum landing sizes. - restocking measures  Not all MS have chosen to address obstacles as this is one of the costliest measures (demolition, modification, construction of up/downstream passes etc.)  Some have chosen trap-and-transport schemes to facilitate silver eel migration.

Eel Management Plans9 Part III: Evaluation of EMP’s  Step 1: DG MARE has carried out an Admissibility Check of EMP’s for conformity with Regulation 1100/2007.  Step 2: ICES (with support from EIFAC WG Eel) is carrying out the technical evaluation of the EMP’s to answer the following questions: - Will 40% escapement be achieved? - How effective are the proposed measures? - Effectiveness of restocking? etc.  Step 3: The Commission proposes to approve/reject plans, taking ICES advice into consideration. The Member States vote on this proposal (Comitology).  If the Commission takes a Decision to reject a plan, the Member State has 3 months to submit a revised one, otherwise a 50% reduction in fishing effort or catch must be implemented.  EMP’s will be subject to modification / improvement in view of new scientific info/data and changes in stock status.

Eel Management Plans10 Part IV: State of Play  To date, the EMP’s of the following Member States have been adopted by the Commission: BE, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, IE, LT, LU, LV, NL, PL, SE.  DE and UK have received a positive vote by the Member States and will be adopted by the Commission in the coming days.  EL, ES, IT and PT are still under examination.  BG and SI have submitted requests for exemption after the deadline. These requests were refused.

Eel Management Plans11 No. of plansPagesLanguageStatus BE1173FR/NLAdopted BG0--Sanction – 50% in fishing CZ142ENAdopted DE9394DEVote –Adoption imminent DK175ENAdopted EE126ENAdopted EL159ENEvaluation ongoing ES131460ESEvaluation ongoing FI179FIVote – Adoption imminent FR11590FRAdopted IE7255ENAdopted IT1600ITEvaluation ongoing LT1112LTAdopted LU1107DEAdopted LV195ENAdopted NL147ENAdopted PL188ENAdopted PT1101PTEvaluation ongoing SE182ENAdopted SI0--Sanction – 50% in fishing UK16730ENVote – adoption imminent TOTAL 70 plans from 19 MS Adopted

Eel Management Plans12 Part V: Glass Eel and CITES   According to the Regulation, 60% of glass eel (<12cm long) are to be used in restocking, for the purpose of increasing escapement of silver eel to the sea. (Start at 35%, reach 60% by 2013).   Evolution of market is uncertain.   Prices paid by Asian buyers are usually much higher than those paid by EU restockers. However, EFF support might help level the playing field.   The glass eel season in FR does not fully correspond to the restocking season in northern EU MS.

Eel Management Plans13 Glass Eel and CITES  Eel is listed on CITES Appendix II. This listing came into force on 13 March  The Scientific Review Group for CITES debated for about 2 years before taking a decision regarding the implementation of this listing.  An export quota on glass eel was established in For the fishing season, the export quota for FR is 14.5 tons. This will be reviewed by the CITES SRG in July 2010.

Eel Management Plans14 Glass Eel and CITES  Any Member State wishing to export glass eel can only do so once its EMP has been adopted by the Commission.  Only France and Spain have declared their intention to export glass eel from the EU.  Third countries wishing to export eel to the EU must also demonstrate that such export does not harm the stock.

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