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Restoration of the European eel population; pilot studies for a scientific framework in support of sustainable management

Objective

The eel stock in Europe is in rapid decline, and both ICES/EIFAC and the European Commission have advised urgent management action to protect and restore the stock. Given the scattered distribution of the eel in inland and coastal waters over Europe, sustainable management and restoration of the common spawning stock in the Sargasso Sea can only be achieved through local management measures, integrated on a European scale.

These measures must address all continental life stages: glass eel (immigrating recruits), yellow eel (resident growth stage) and silver eel (emigrating spawners), with the specific objective of overall protection of the spawning stock. Individual river catchments have been identified as the primary management units for implementation o f the Water Framework Directive. Whilst protective measures for eel must also be catchment-specific, a common approach and an equitable balance between countries are required. Joint development of targets and tools will provide a cost-effective and consistent approach to management of these widespread fish The aims of the proposed project are to develop quantitative approaches to evaluate the status of national eel stocks at a catchment level, to derive reference points for sustainability, and to model the potential effect of legal and technical measures aimed at stock recovery.

These objectives will be achieved by bringing together modellers and data holders, culminating in a workshop to review the application of suitable models to real historical data sets, and to identify the technical components of a scientific approach to managing this resource.

Call for proposal

FP6-2004-SSP-4
See other projects for this call

Coordinator

STICHTING DIENST LANDBOUWKUNDIG ONDERZOEK
EU contribution
No data
Address
Costerweg 50
9101 WAGENINGEN
Netherlands

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Total cost
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Participants (7)