Leading French restaurants fail the Fish2fork sustainability test

Tuesday, 21 June 2011 10:39  http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/world/6030-leading-french-restaurants-fail-the-fish2fork-sustainability-test.html

FRENCH restaurants lead the world in sourcing the finest produce and training chefs in the culinary arts – but its restaurateurs are often unaware of the importance of serving sustainable seafood, says a new survey by the website Fish2fork. This is the conclusion of the first ranking of French restaurants judged on the sustainability of what they serve. The Fish2fork website was conceived by the makers of the celebrated feature-length documentary on over-fishing, The End of the Line, in response to official UN figures which show that 85 per cent of the world’s wild fish stocks are either fully or over-exploited. Fish2fork asked 76 leading fish restaurants to identify which species of seafood they served, where it came from and how it was caught. The restaurants were ranked according to their success in sourcing seafood from well-managed stocks. After examining the menus and asking follow-up questions researchers concluded that 23 (30 per cent) deserved a rating of up to four “blue fish” for their sourcing practices. The highest rating that can be achieved is five blue fish. However, some 53 restaurants (70 per cent) justified a rating of up to five “red fish skeletons” – the lowest possible score. Reasons for giving low rankings included giving their customers poor information about the species of fish they served or actively serving what conservationists consider “fish to avoid”. Fish2fork’s sustainability champion, with four blue fish, is Francois Pasteau, chef and proprietor of the modern bistro restaurant Epi Dupin in Paris’s 6th arrondissement. M. Pasteau will be present at the launch along with other blue fish chefs, Marc Chevalier (Au Petit Gari, Nice), Christian Têtedoie (Têtedoie, Lyon) and Philippe Pentecôte (Le Petit Bordelais, Paris) and restaurant manager, Emmanuel Taib(Côté Sushi, Paris). M. Pasteau became a responsible restaurateur almost by accident. He developed an interest in flavours that worked with one another and in using unusual or forgotten species of fish, to explore different tastes. On the way he found out about the global crisis of overfishing. He now includes sustainability among his top criteria for sourcing fish, along with seasonality, quality and freshness. When he buys fish from the market twice a week he now rejects overfished stocks, such as cod and tuna, in preference for overlooked but plentiful species such as pouting and pollack. M. Pasteau’s score is one-and-a-half blue fish more than any other contender, making him a true national hero of sustainability. By contrast with the top “blue” restaurants, there were many restaurants for whom sustainability might as well have been a foreign language, with five serving the critically endangered European eel and three serving wild caviar from Caspian species of sturgeon, most of which are listed as endangered. The staff of one top gastronomic establishment told researchers they had no idea European eel was an endangered species. Among the famous restaurants being marked down to the point of red fish skeletons were Le Divellec, Le Bristol and L’Espadon (in the Ritz Hotel), all in Paris, and Flavio in Le Touquet. Researchers noticed a remarkable disparity between the amount of information restaurants considered important to provide their customers about food sourced on land and food sourced from the sea. For example, one Bordeaux restaurant named the village where its pigeon was farmed, specified the breed of the beef it served and the town where its beans came from but it failed to specify which part of the Atlantic the cod was from, how it was caught or whether it was from well managed stocks. The same restaurant served bluefin tuna, an endangered species, on skewers. Its staff questioned why Fish2fork’s researchers wanted to know where this was from and how it was caught. Despite this, the survey does reveal that there has been a large swing away from bluefin tuna after publicity about overfishing and after the unsuccessful EU campaign to impose a ban on international trade under the CITES convention. Researchers found that five of the restaurants surveyed were still serving bluefin tuna but 26 per cent had stopped serving it because they were aware stocks were in trouble. The award of a Michelin star was no guide to the sustainability of the fish that was served – there are Michelin-starred restaurants with “blue fish” and “red fish skeletons” in the survey. However, three Michelin-starred restaurants appeared in Fish2fork’s top ten. The highest scoring Michelin-starred restaurant in the Fish2fork survey is Antoine, a chic restaurant in the 16th arrondissment headed by the youthful chef, Mickael Féval, which received 2.5 blue fish. Féval, who was awarded his first Michelin star this year, has an impressive knowledge of fish and fishing and has set up a scheme whereby he works with boats direct. Sylvette Peplowski, editor of Fish2fork France, said: “We are delighted to see that some of the younger and most dynamic chefs have grasped the great challenge that sustainability represents and are using their knowledge and skill to serve fish that are sourced sustainably and are delicious, too. “France, the country of gastronomic flair and culinary genius, can be a leader in devising suitable recipes for overlooked and more plentiful species to give the overfished ones a rest. Other chefs should take a lead from what the best chefs in our survey have done.” Charles Clover, editor of Fish2fork said: “What future are we creating for the next generations of French chef if many species of wild fish become a thing of the past and come off the menu because we have let them go practically extinct in the wild? “There are many initiatives this year designed to renew the great days of French gastronomy. I find it surprising that none of these seem to be about sustainability, as you will only have the greatest cuisine if there remains a full variety of fish to cook.”

Will the eel survive its management?

The European eel is on the way to disappearing for good. The species is critically endangered, and there are strong scientific arguments for suspending all fishing. Despite this situation, Swedish eel fishery is allowed to continue. Analysis of the eel management plan by the Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment identifies clear shortcomings. It is unlikely that Sweden will meet the target that has been set for silver eels capable of migrating back to the Sargasso Sea so that they can contribute to regeneration.

The recruitment of new annual cohorts of European eel has decreased over a long period, and today it represents only a few per cent of what it was 30 to 50 years ago. The eel is particularly sensitive to overfishing, as it becomes sexually mature at an advanced age, but there also other reasons for its decline. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has long warned of the consequences of the ongoing population decline, and since 1998 the Council has recommended that an eel management plan should be adopted at the European level. Since 2007, the European Commission has also required all eel-fishing Member States to develop a plan to reduce eel mortality caused by human activity. In Sweden, the Swedish Board of Fisheries has been tasked by the Government with taking responsibility for a national eel management plan.

Many measures are listed under the plan: prohibition of recreational fishing for eel, special professional fishing licences for eel, modified fishing times, closure of yellow eel fishing on the west coast and increased stockings of juvenile eels. There is also a declaration of intent by the Swedish Board of Fisheries together with six power companies to reduce mortality due to eels being sucked into the turbines of hydropower plants.

The analysis of the Swedish eel management plan by the Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment identifies a number of shortcomings. Some of these are listed below:

• There is a clear conflict between conserving the eel as a species and preserving the eel fishery. The management is aimed at "mitigating" the adverse effects of eel fishery and other human activity instead of guaranteeing that the conservation target is met. By comparison, both Norway and Ireland have introduced a complete suspension of all eel fishery so that migration back to the Sargasso Sea will increase.

• The material on which the plan is based is deficient and lacks critical scrutiny. There is uncertainty in stock assessment which has not been taken into account. There is therefore a great risk of overestimating the size of the stock and continuing to over-exploit.

• The operationalisation of targets as requirements and measures is inadequate – the gains considered to be made from stockings, fishery regulation and reduced turbine mortality are based more on hope than on solid data. Implementation of the plan takes place or is intended to take place over a very long period of time. Even if the plan is eventually followed, it is unlikely that 2.6 million silver eels will be able to migrate, which is Sweden's target. This is due among other things to relatively extensive eel fishery still being permitted and uncertain results from the stocking of Swedish waters with French and British juvenile eels; the eel may be disoriented and it is doubtful whether it will find its way back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/uog-wte060711.php


Public release date: 7-Jun-2011

Contact: Henrik Svedäng
henrik.svedang@havsmiljoinstitutet.se
46-031-786-6645
University of Gothenburg

Eel Friendly Fisheries Scheme Update

Newbarn Farm is the first complex to sign up to the Eel Friendly Fishery Scheme, owner Richard Soley has been keen to protect and promote the fisheries Eels for several years. The complex has produced huge eels to 7lb+ in the past and the future of these eels is secure with Newbarns participation in the scheme. Newbarn Fishery is situated in Paignton and the complex is run as a mixed fishery with the added bonus of holiday cottages, for more info you can click on the above link to their website or email nbf@newbarnfarm.com

Newbarn Owner Richard Soley receiving the first Scheme certificate on 29th April 2011 

Richard plans to install some concrete pipes to improve habitat and along with local Eel expert Keith record any captures made at the complex to then be passed on to the NAC to aid data collection. 

Southwest Lakes Trust have agreed to become the second member of the scheme, they manage 27 top Coarse and Trout venues in the Southwest. They have supported the National Anguilla Club in the past by hosting fish-ins at Upper Tamar. More details will follow regarding the trust after an up coming meeting with Trust member Ben Smeeth on friday 6th May.

Ben Smeeth SWLT Facilities Manager recieving a certificate on behalf of the trust.

Following our meeting Ben Smeeth was able to confirm the trust's support for the scheme and although they are restricted with habitat construction due to the lakes being for water supply, they will be adopting the code of practice. They will also be getting their baliffs to log eels caught and are also supporting the NAC with data collection. Lower Tamar Lake is a great example of a water with good access in and out thanks to the concrete spillway,this can be seen in the manmade habitat section of this site, this trust water has a huge head of eels in the 1lb to 2lb range largely due to the lack of barriers. SWLT run fisheries to cater for every type of angling as well as running Carp and Coarse Matches throughout the year. Use their link above to find out more details and download a Trust Brochure.

Staffordmoor Fishery have become the third fishery to sign up to the scheme, owner Andy Seery has created a wonderful and diverse complex from this old trout fishery. All the lakes contain specimen eels with a best topping 6lb+ as well as a good head of younger eels, the fishery has many areas providing excellent eel habitat. The eels in this fishery definately benefit from the extensive match calendar with plenty of loose feed going in on a regular basis.

Above a map showing the 7 lakes that make up the Staffordmoor complex

Andy Seery receiving his Eel Friendly Fisheries Scheme Certificate and Code of practice

I have known Andy for many years including when he was running Whiteacres, he has strived to create a perfect balance between fishing and fish habitat. All of the lakes have areas containing good Eel habitat, and Josephs Lodge Lake has many sunken trees and covered bays providing an Eel paradise.

Northwich Anglers Association have become the first angling association to sign up to the scheme and although the scheme is being piloted in the Southwest the enquiry from the Cheshire based association was to great an oppurtunity to miss. Chairman Mark Leathwood along with Kevin Rimmer & Paul Ikin have assisted in getting the scheme and its code of practice adopted unanimously by the Associations Commitee. As NAC members they will also ensure that the scheme is tailored to fit their various venues. N.A.A controls 13 lakes, sections of the Rivers Weaver & Dane, Wincham Brook and theTrent & Mersey Canal. The Eel stock are spread throughout the waters with rumoured 8lb+ Eels lurking in the stillwaters. I hope that Northwich AA will lead the way for other angiling associations.  

Eel Friendly Fisheries Scheme Launched.

The Eel friendly fishery scheme aims to promote and conserve the freshwater Eel within the modern fishery environment. This scheme is open to all fisheries including Commercial, Club and Associations. The National Anguilla Club is leading the scheme but it is hoped that other organisations will endorse and support the process including the Environment Agency. The plan is to pilot the scheme in the Southwest during 2011 and if successfull nationally in 2012.


http://www.eelfriendlyfisheries.co.uk/

NAC Regions - Update

South West	Steve Dawe	slpdawe@btinternet.com
South East	Neil Wilkinson	neilwilkinson@fsmail.net
Midlands	Glen Patterson	glenpattersonblue@hotmail.com
East	Graham Wilkes	acolinesofteners@ntlworld.com
North West	Barry McConnell	mcconnell@zandavan.fslife.co.uk
North East	Vacant	secretary@nationalanguillaclub.co.uk
Scotland	Chris Daphne	chris.daphne@yahoo.co.uk
Wales	Vacant	secretary@nationalanguillaclub.co.uk

South West	South East
Cornwall	Berkshire
Devon	Buckinghamshire
Dorset	Hampshire
Gloucestershire	Kent
Somerset	Middlesex
Wiltshire	Oxfordshire
	Surrey
	Sussex
East	Midlands
Lincolnshire	Derbyshire
Cambridgeshire	Leicestershire
Norfolk	Rutland
Bedfordshire	Northamptonshire
Suffolk	Nottinghamshire
Hertfordshire	Herefordshire
Essex	Staffordshire
	Worcestershire
	Warwickshire
North West	North East
Cheshire	County Durham
Cumbria	Northumberland
Lancashire	Tees Valley
Shropshire	Tyne & Wear
	All the Yorkshires
Scotland	Wales

NAC AGM - The new NAC committee

A
very well attended AGM (26 members) resulted in the following changes to the
committee structure:

Mike
Brettle has stepped down from the Chairman role, and has been replaced by John
Davis. A warm welcome to John, and a big thank you to Mike for the sterling work
he has carried out over his 8 years on the committee.

Former General Secretary, Tug Wilson, has stepped down this year: The NAC
would like to thank Tug for leading the club excellently over the past year.
Mark Salt has replaced him.

Nick
Rose has stepped down from the Bulletin team, but will continue as Product
Officer, and will also carry on with the publishing of the newsletter. A huge
thank you to Nick for making a cracking job of what is arguably one of the
toughest tasks in the club, that is, printing the magazine. Our next NAC
magazine will be produced by a printing firm. More detail of this to follow in
the minutes of the AGM.

David and Andrea  Sullivan have joined the Bulletin team and will
work with Mark Parker in editing and distributing the magazine. Welcome aboard,
David and Andrea.

Terry Woolcock joins the committee as Environment Officer alongside Chris
Daphne; welcome Terry.

Roy
Piggott has stepped down from the shared role of Records Officer, and we would
like to thank him for his work in that role. Steve Dawe will continue as Records
Officer.

Barry McConnell has stepped down as a co opted committee member, but will
now fill the North West Regional Officer role. As always, thanks to Barry for
his continuing support.

Other positions remain as last year:

President - Steve
Richardson
Chairman – John
Davis
General
Secretary – Mark Salt
Treasurer - Pat
Huish
Membership
Secretary - Ade Lees
Bulletin Team - Mark
Parker, Andrea Sullivan and David Sullivan
Records Officers - Steve
Dawe
Social
Officer - Nick Duffy
Products Officer - Nick
Rose
Internet
Officer - Dave Smith

Environment Officers –
Chris Daphne & Terry Woolcock

Junior Officer - Paula Lees

 

for e-mail address please see http://www.nationalanguillaclub.co.uk/committee.html

Researchers head to the Sargasso Sea to study eels

A German research team will set out from Bermuda this week to study the mysterious spawning habits of European eels.

 

Reinhold Hanel said the research could help to protect the species, which has suffered a huge decline in numbers.

 

Very little is known about how and where the eels spawn. Researchers have found that very young eels caught near the Sargasso Sea are likely to have spawned in the area. “It’s common sense, but still unproven,” Dr Hanel said. “It’s a huge area, and we’re not 100 percent sure where they are spawning.”

 

For centuries it was a mystery how and where the eels spawned because no juvenile European eels were recorded.

 

It was only in the 19th century that researchers discovered that leptocephali, originally believed to be a completely different species, were actually juvenile European eels.

 

“They go through a dramatic metamorphosis, so they look very different,” Dr Hanel said. “The juveniles actually have both sets of gonads. At a certain stage they decide to be male or female but what the cause is, we don’t know.”

 

He said that previous studies have attempted to track the eels with satellite tags as they migrate into the Atlantic from the rivers and streams where they spend most of their lives, but a large number of the tagged animals were killed by predators.

 

“The record is 1,800km, but this is still far away from the Sargasso Sea. On the way to the Island, we released several tagged eels into the Atlantic. We’re hoping that they will have a chance to go to their spawning areas,” he said.

 

“In an ideal world the pop-up tags will pop up where we find the smallest larvae or even eggs. That is not likely, but we want to narrow down the spawning grounds.”

 

Both European and American eel species are believed to spawn in different areas of the Sargasso Sea, but there is some degree of overlap in the spawning grounds.

 

Eels have been reported in Bermuda’s waters however it is not known which species has been seen.

 

“We could work it out in two hours, but first we have to catch one,” Dr Hanel said.

“There are also hybrids of the two species, but they are only found in Iceland.

“Why do they wind up in the middle of the two habitats, we don’t know. There are a lot of things that are not fully understood.”

 

By learning more about the spawning habits of the animals, he hopes to find ways to help restore the population, which has fallen dramatically.

 

Despite being classified as critically endangered, European eels are still a popular food item in some countries.

 

Attempts to have the animals spawn in captivity have been unsuccessful so juveniles are removed from the wild for farming efforts. This has left fewer eels able to breed and caused their numbers to fall even further.

 

Parasites and barriers to migration, such as damns and hydroelectric plants, have also been blamed for a portion of the species decline.

 

Laws preventing the export of European eels to China could help reduce fishing pressures on the species, Dr Hanel said.

 

However, he added, in some areas American eels have been illegally introduced to Europe to bolster the numbers.

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110316/NEWS07/703169946

Researchers Find Piece In Eel Puzzle

Researchers in Denmark and Norway are on a quest to uncover the truth behind the dwindling number of eel stocks. The study is funded in part by the EELIAD ('European eels in the Atlantic: assessment of their decline') project, which has received EUR 2.63 million under the Environment Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The research was recently presented in the journal Aquatic Biology.


Experts from the National Institute of Aquatic Resources at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua) and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research are diligently working to find out why the number of European eels is dropping, and if the loss is linked to any problems they encounter during their migration to spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea.

'Eels begin to leave their home rivers in autumn, and the first phase of their migration to the coast is very risky for them,' explains DTU Aqua's Kim Aarestrup, lead author of the study. 'We investigated the mortality of eels in this first phase by following 50 migratory silver eels as they swam through the lower parts of the River Gudenaa and in the first phase of the marine migration in Randers Fjord. We looked at both the behaviour and the survival rate during this first part of this migration.'

Despite the fact that mortality was low in the lower parts of the river, the researchers found that 60% of the eels disappeared in the Randers Fjord. Their findings give weight to the theory that silver eels die while in the early marine phase of migration. The team pointed out that silver eel mortality during migration in higher parts of the river may also be high.

Past studies carried out in the central part of the River Gudenaa and in other European rivers found low survival rates. According to the researchers, it seems that the final survival rate into the Kattegat for silver eels from the River Gudenaa may be below 10%.

Using automatic listening stations to determine why 60% of eels migrating into Randers Fjord die, the team studied the migration of 50 large, female silver eels implanted with acoustic transmitters. They monitored the migration of the eels from the lower parts of the river into Randers Fjord on the first migration phase.

Their data show that 21% of the eels in the fjord were reported caught by fishermen (both anglers and commercial). However, fishing likely had the biggest impact on the missing eels in the fjord. After questioning fishermen, the researchers confirmed that tagged eels (the exact number is not known) had been caught in the fishery without being reported.

It should be noted that as the tags were implanted internally, the researchers could not determine straight away if the eel was tagged. So eels sold and exported alive may in fact be tagged eels, they said.

The team did not find transmitters in the fjord through manual tracking. Therefore, they ruled out the possibility that some of the eels were eaten by other fish in the fjord. They suggested that a number of eels could have been eaten by birds capable of carrying eels (along with transmitters) out of the water. They pointed out, however, that the chances of this happening with the largest eels in the study were very little only because they were too big to be carried.

Ultimately, the experts believe that fishing is the culprit behind the loss of eels.

The team also found that eels were sluggish when migrating out of the river and fjord. Current data suggest that eels reach the Sargasso Sea the spring after their home river departure. Even clocking in at speeds that top the average, only a few eels would have managed to reach the Sargasso Sea the following spring, they said.

Dr Aarestrup said it is important for more eels to survive in the river-fjord system if the EU recovery plan - concerning eels reaching the Sargasso Sea successfully - is going to be met.

For more information, please visit:


DTU Aqua: http://www.aqua.dtu.dk/English.aspx

EELIAD: http://www.eeliad.com/

Category: Project results

Data Source Provider: Aquatic Biology; DTU Aqua

Document Reference: Aarestrup, K., et al. (2010) Survival and progression rates of large European silver eel Anguilla anguilla in late freshwater and early marine phases. Aquatic Biology 9: 263-270. DOI: 10.3354/ab00260.

Subject Index: Scientific Research; Resources of the Sea, Fisheries; Veterinary and animal sciences; Environmental Protection; Coordination, Cooperation

Redundant Weirs Removed To Help Eel Recovery

THE UK Environment Agency’s Fisheries Team successfully removed two important barriers to fish on the River’s Meden and Maun near New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire last week.

The weirs were both built in the 1960s to measure water flow, but they were taken out of use in 1989 and have remained redundant structures ever since.

It was important to remove the weirs because they formed a barrier to fish movement up and down the river and its tributaries. This is especially important during the coarse fish spawning season, and to migratory species such as the European eel returning from the ocean to feed in our rivers.

This project address the objectives of the Humber Eel Management Plan and the European Union Eel (England and Wales) Regulations 2009 by improving passage for eels and elvers around barriers to migration.

The first phase of the River Meden and River Maun Fish Passage Project will enable fish to pass along 8km of the River Meden from its confluence with the River Idle in West Drayton as far upstream as Perlethorpe. Works are planned on two more barriers to fish passage on this stretch in 2011.

Phase two of the project will address fish passage upstream of Perlethorpe.

Fisheries Officer Kathy Hughes says “Our rivers are the healthiest for 20 years, but we need to do even more to meet stringent new EU standards. Neither the River Maun nor the River Meden have reached Good Ecological Potential under the Water Framework Directive.

“Fish populations are one of the key reasons for this because there is a lack of good fish habitat due to physical modification of the river and barriers preventing fish migration.

“The work we have done directly addresses these issues. Alongside other Environment Agency work it will help these rivers achieve Good Ecological Potential in the future and I would especially like to thank the local landowners whose support has made this project possible.”

Funding for this work was provided by Defra to support the improvement of failing Water Framework Directive watercourses.

http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/uk/5186-redundant-weirs-removed-to-help-eel-recovery-.html

Natural Eel Eggs Found For First Time

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110202a4.html



Natural eel eggs found for first time

Kyodo News

A research team has found eggs of natural Japanese eels off the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, providing answers to longtime mysteries of where and when the fish spawn, it said in the British science magazine Nature Communications.

The team led by Katsumi Tsukamoto, a researcher at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Oceanic Research Institute, said it collected 31 eel eggs near the West Mariana Ridge shortly before the new moon in May 2009.

Most eels used for food are raised in farms using fry caught at sea. The team hopes the discovery will lead to eel farming from eggs and prevent further declines in the eel population.

Using a net for plankton, the team found the eggs estimated to have been fertilized about 30 hours before in a 10-sq.-km area south of the oceanic ridge.

The team also found newly hatched eel larvae concentrated at a depth of about 160 meters, leading the members to believe spawning takes place at a depth of around 200 meters and the eggs gradually rise.

Rare Eels Get Celebrity Chefs In Hot Water

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpps/news/offbeat/rare-eels-get-celebrity-chefs-in-hot-water-dpgonc-km-20110116_11458731



Rare Eels Get Celebrity Chefs In Hot Water

Updated: Sunday, 16 Jan 2011, 1:26 PM EST

Published : Sunday, 16 Jan 2011, 1:26 PM EST

(NewsCore) - British TV chefs Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver both served endangered European eel at their restaurants while fronting high-profile campaigns to highlight declining fish stocks, according to British newspaper The Sunday Times.

Ramsay, who slams the shark fin trade in an investigative TV documentary broadcast Sunday in the UK, had eel on the menu at his London restaurant Maze as well as at France's La Veranda, in Versailles, where he is a consultant.

Oliver, whose show on so-called sustainable seafood aired last week as part of UK network Channel 4’s “Big Fish Fight” series, sold endangered European eel at his London restaurant Fifteen.

European eel was listed as an endangered species in 2008 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature after a 90 percent drop in its population over the previous 30 years.

Both chefs removed the eel from their restaurant menus after being contacted by the paper.

A spokesman for Oliver said that “eel has occasionally been on the menu at Fifteen London but will now come off the menu until we have done further research into the state of eel stocks.”

Ramsay’s spokeswoman said, “We will be reviewing our position and removing it from the menu for now.”

Corine Rozendaal, who runs the Dutch Eel Company -- which is based in Lincolnshire, central England, and supplies both chefs -- denied the eel was an endangered species and said the population decline had settled.

When told that the European eel was officially designated as critically endangered, she said, “But that’s Greenpeace for you.”

Greenpeace’s head ocean campaigner, Femke Nagel, said there was no such thing as “sustainable eel” because eel farming relied on sourcing the species from the wild.

AGM Advance Notice

Sunday 27th March 2011

10:30 for 10:45 prompt start

More details to follow, venue website is:

http://www.thedrakesdrumgreatbarr.co.uk/

This is your opportunity to influence the running of the club please make the effort to come along. many reasonably priced hotels locally.

The committee are currently discussing the possibility of restructuring the committee as a number of committee members are wishing to retire. So this AGM could be very important. (please don't read anymore into this than is written the club is in the best health of it's existence but with growth comes the need for improved administration hence the discussion).

Admission to NAC meetings is free, however please support our hosts for allowing us the room for free. and the club by bringing something for the raffle (this is your opportunity to get rid of your tat! - collectibles, very expensive gear - bottles of grape juice or barley water - total and utter rubbish are all very welcome!).

It's YOUR club, and YOU can make a difference.

footnote: The AGM is for NAC members only, guests are allowed to attend with a member on one occasion to come and meet the members with a view to joining (members are invited to bring their partners at any time) Only members are allowed to participate in voting.

Membership Special Offer!

To Celebrate both a new year and the highest membership numbers in our history the NAC announces a Special Membership offer of:

Up to 15 months NAC membership for the price of 12!

All new memberships purchased now will run until 31st march 2012

To join online visit

http://www.nationalanguillaclub.co.uk/join.html

Eel and fish access- improvements to tide doors on South Cumbrian becks.

                                                               

Eel and fish access- improvements to tide doors on South Cumbrian becks.

South Cumbria Rivers Trust has recently completed important eel and fish pass improvement work on two south Cumbrian rivers.

 Gleaston beck, New Biggin and Newlands beck near to Ulverston are two of three tidal river sites that are now benefiting from innovative improvement work to allow the unimpeded passage of eel, salmon, sea trout, lampreys and other migratory species between fresh and salt water.

Tide doors form part of our coastal flood defences and help protect property against tidal flooding. They are usually simple, hinged doors hanging from a supporting structure in the lower reaches of a river or beck that close as the tide presses against them.

Trust Manager Pete Evoy says “ We all understand the importance and need for flood protection but these tide doors also present a significant barrier to migrating fish and eel particularly as they attempt to enter our rivers on flood tides. Eel, specifically, are a species under threat and their numbers have fallen dramatically since the 1980’s. What is needed is a solution that allows passage for these species but also offers a safeguard against tidal flooding.”

South Cumbria Rivers Trust has been working very closely with the Environment Agency, particularly the Flood and Coastal Risk Management department and Fisheries staff to find an acceptable answer to this problem.

The solution has come in the form of a device that acts something like a “cat-flap”- but with a difference. These smaller doors, installed within the larger tide door, hang open during the incoming tide and continue to allow eel and fish to pass through them after the main door has closed. These smaller doors will themselves eventually close but only at a point pre determined by an adjustable float mechanism. In this way opportunities for access to migrating species are extended over the tidal cycle while ensuring that there is no flood risk.

Pete said “The support and cooperation of the Environment Agency and the landowners we have worked with on these projects has been magnificent and I thank them all. There has been all round understanding that we all must do what we can to improve access to our river systems and make the maximum amount of habitat available to all these creatures.”

The good news is that this DEFRA funded work will now be extended very soon to a tide door site on Colton beck, Greenodd and other river locations where eel migration is impeded.

Gleaston beck Tide door with new float activated eel/fish valves installed

NAC Winter Social, The Award Winners Are:

A very big thank you to the attendees and speakers at the NAC winter social held in Birmingham on the 14th November 2010.

Awards for 2010 went to;

	The Nigel Jeyes Memorial Trophy: - To a member judged to have given merit worthy service to the club  Dave Smith
	The best Eel of the Season Trophy: - to the member who catches the heaviest eel of the season. Steve Ricketts for his 9:10
	The John Sidley Memorial Trophy: - To be awarded along with the best eel of the season trophy providing the eel is in excess of six pounds in weight. Steve Ricketts for his 9:10
	Best Eel on a Club trip: - To the member who catches the heaviest eel on a national club fish-in.  Steve Dawe for his 4:09
	The Lawrence Memorial Trophy - To be awarded along with the best Eel on a club trip providing the Eel is in excess of four pounds in weight. Steve Dawe for his 4:09
	The Steve Mahoney Memorial Trophy: - To the member writing the best article for the club magazine. Jon Staple
	Rose Bowl, awarded for outstanding capture of the year. Mark Salt for his long list of 5s and 6s
	Jockey's Junior Trophy, for largest Eel caught by a junior member. Regan Walker for his 4:00
	And the Pink Thong Award goes to Nick Duffy... just because!

---

 

Certificate winners are;

Gold Awards for Eels of 6lb and over

Steve Ricketts for Eels of 6lb 2oz, 6lb 7oz, 6lb 14oz, 7lb 3oz & 9lb 10oz.

Mark Salt for Eels of  6lb 2oz & 6lb 8oz

Steve Pitts for an Eel of 6lb 1oz

Barry McConnell for an Eel of 6lb 2oz

Silver Awards for Eels of 5lb and over

Steve Dawe for Eels of 5lb 5oz, 5lb 6oz & 5lb 12oz

Mark Salt for two Eels of 5lb 15oz & 8 other 5lb Eels

Steve Ricketts for Eels of 5lb 5oz, 5lb 10oz & 5lb 14oz

Steve Pitts for Eels of 5lb 2oz & 5lb 7oz

Barry McConnell for Eels of 5lb 2oz, 5lb 3oz & 5lb 8oz

Glen Patterson for and Eel of 5lb 2oz

Kevin Payne for an Eel of 5lb 5oz

John Davis for an Eel of 5lb 12oz

Terry Woolcock for Eels of 5lb 05oz & 5lb 9oz

Bronze Awards for Eels of 4lb and over

Scott Ashworth for an Eel of 4lb

Regan Walker for an Eel of 4lb

Mark Salt for an Eel of 4lb 15oz & 9 other 4lb Eels

Steve Ricketts for an Eel of 4lb 14oz and 5 other 4lb Eels

Steve Pitts for an Eel of 4lb 7oz

Terry Woolcock for an Eel of 4lb 6oz

Glen Patterson for an Eel of 4lb 6oz

Nick Duffy for an Eel of 4lb 5oz

Steve Dawe for Eels of 4lb 8oz, 4lb 9oz & 4lb 10oz

Richard Mills for an Eel of 4lb 2oz

Barry McConnell for Eels of 4lb 2oz & 4lb 3oz

Steve Richardson for Eels of 4lb 1oz, 4lb 4oz & 4lb 9oz

Andrew Rose for Eels of 4lb 1oz & 4lb 4oz

Gordon Collier for an Eel of 4lb 8oz

John Davis for an Eel of 4lb 4oz

Ray Hammel for an Eel of 4lb 8oz

Roy Piggott for Eels of 4lb 1oz, 4lb 4oz, 4lb 4oz & 4lb 5oz

Nigel Maltas for an Eel of 4lb

 

Environment Agency Provides Consent to Massacre Eels on the Trent....

Angling Trust Press Release (anglingtrust.net)

The Angling Trust has learned that the Environment Agency has granted licences to the Small Hydro Company, working with British Waterways, for two hydropower plants on the river Trent at Sawley and Gunthorpe which allow up to 100 fish – including eels – to be killed at each of two plants in any 24 hour period.


While this doesn’t suggest that the Environment Agency (EA) is directly licensing the killing of fish, it appears to allow the developers to keep generating even where fish are being killed – except where they exceed the 100 mark in 24 hours. The licence also allows up to 10 game fish to be killed in a 24 hour period before the turbines are stopped. Eels are particularly vulnerable to turbines because of their length and their ability to get through screens designed to protect fish (see picture).

European eel stocks are at an all time low. In response, the Environment Agency has recently banned anglers and commercial eel fishermen from taking eels, and on the Trent there is a ban on any eels being taken above the tidal limit at any time. In this context, the Angling Trust finds this decision to allow so many fish to be sliced up in hydropower turbines in a year perverse. In 2005, only 140 Kg of silver eel were caught in the lower Trent for the whole year; these turbines could legally destroy a far greater number.

The hydro schemes also sit uneasily with the UK government’s obligations under various EU laws which require the EA to protect and enhance fisheries, including the Water Framework Directive.

Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust said “We have a situation here where one EA Department has introduced measures to protect the eel, which we support, and another department has given permission for a development which could see eels and other fish slaughtered in massive numbers. Could government be any less joined-up? Hydropower developments should not be licensed to kill; they must be designed so that they don’t damage fish and their habitats.”

Alan Butterworth, technical director at the Angling Trust added: “Current research, and a Europe-wide working group on eels, recommends a screen gap of no more than 15mm to safeguard migrating silver eels, and the Agency's own hydropower Good Practice Guide stipulates 12.5mm for the type of turbine to be used at Gunthorpe and Sawley. The screens proposed have a 20mm wide gap, which would allow eels to enter the turbine channel where they are at risk of being mutilated or killed.”

Fish Legal – the legal arm of the Angling Trust – is now considering a case against the EA on behalf of a member club whose fishing will be damaged by the scheme. The Angling Trust has recently made a series of detailed proposals to change the EA’s guidelines to developers of hydropower schemes.

NAC Withdraws From SEG (Sustainable Eel Group)

Despite early optimism the NAC have withdrew it's support from the sustainable Eel group.

The open letter to the Group details the reasons for this action

After discussion with the National Anguilla Club committee, we are withdrawing from the SEG with immediate effect. We have seen little tangible evidence of conservation improvement aided by the commercial element of the group during its life, and can only conclude that the thrust of the organization is to further the marketing and consumption of the eel, using the member/observer status of the affiliated conservationists to present an acceptable profile to the general public. I would ask all non commercial organizations currently affiliated to the group to consider their positions, and question how the commercial members of the group have contributed to the conservation issues to date.
Regards

Mark Salt
Environment Officer
National Anguilla Club

The Decline Of The Eel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/27/the-decline-of-the-eel

Our rivers once teemed with eels but each year fewer make the 3,000-mile trip to get here. Jon Henley reports on the fight to save this unique creature from extinction

Jon Henley -  The Guardian, Wednesday 27 October 2010

Jon Henley gets to grips with an eel at Molesey Lock on the Thames. Photograph: Sally Catmull for the Guardian

There are six of them, writhing lazily at the bottom of Darryl Clifton-Dey's plastic tank. "Weird" doesn't, frankly, do them justice: small, beady eyes; big ugly snout. Sinuous, slimy; even on a sunny morning on the banks of the Thames, faintly sinister. Beasts of legend and bad dreams. Even lightly sedated, one half-hearted wriggle and they slide effortlessly out of your grasp, a powerful ripple of grey-green and silver. Their skin is extraordinary, like liquid velvet.

It's not widely known that Sigmund Freud's first job as a scientific researcher was trying to find the testicles in eels. He didn't find many, because what he didn't realise was that eels don't acquire genitals of any description until they need them – and frustratingly for the father of psychoanalysis, that wasn't the case with the ones he'd got.

For there's nothing quite as slippery as an eel. For centuries, we hadn't a clue what they were or where they came from. Aristotle surmised they were born "of nothing". Others swore eels were bred of mud, of bodies decaying in the water. One learned bishop informed the Royal Society that eels slithered from the thatched roofs of cottages; Izaak Walton, in The Compleat Angler, reckoned they sprang from the "action of sunlight on dewdrops".

More than three centuries later, much about them remains a mystery. One thing, though, we do know: the elvers, or young eels, that once wriggled their way up Britain's rivers in such multitudes that on the Thames alone, as one author wrote in 1902, "they made a black margin to the river, on either side of the banks", have stopped coming.

Scientists estimate that across Europe, elver numbers have now crashed to barely 5% of their 1980s levels. With no action, it's feared, in 20 or 30 years there may be no adult eels left either. The European eel, anguilla anguilla, is the subject of urgent legislation in Brussels; it's an endangered species, and member states are required to take immediate steps to protect it.

This month, for the first time ever, the Environment Agency imposed a temporary ban on all fishing for mature eels, declaring a six-month closed season in England and Wales. Fishing for young eels – elvers and the even smaller glass eels – is being similarly restricted. Tough regulations now apply to the kind of nets used, their size and location. And Robin Hackforth, a Lincolnshire eel man, is worried he'll be out of a job.

"I've been eel fishing for 42 years and I still love it," he says. "I still get up at 3.30am, my heart still pounds when I lift the net and see them, all sleek and glistening inside." Hackforth remembers when London's Billingsgate market sold 20 tonnes of eel a week. Unlike the Dutch, the Germans and the Scandinavians – unlike, certainly, the Chinese and the Japanese – we may not eat much eel these days, but it was once a staple.

Eels were once so common as to be a form of currency: the Domesday Book lists hundreds of water mills whose rent was paid in eels, or "sticks" of 25: 2,000 eels to "Giles brother of Ansculf" in Datchet, Bucks; 1,000 sticks from Bottisham in Cambridgeshire.

In 1087, the river Ouse alone yielded a staggering 52,000 eels. Nor were they just for the poor: the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, on the Feast of the Assumption in 1461, offered his honourable guests eels alongside salmon and trout.

As late as 1853, a London diarist recorded that the city "teems and steams with eels, alive and stewed; turn where you will, you will see hot eels smoking away". Jellied (chopped, boiled in stock, allowed to set), they're the Cockney national dish. Today gourmet London restaurants offer smoked fillets, rich, sweet, firm of flesh and high in vitamins and proteins.

And now fishing for eels has been banned (or at least, suspended). The fishermen don't get it. "Not so long ago," Hackforth says, "I caught a tonne in four days. It was the Humber; no one ever fishes it because it's two miles wide. But this time it had burst its banks, and they were just there, in the ditches, in their thousands. We had to hire a truck to get them to market. This ban is wrong, because no one has any idea, at all, how many eels are really out there."

He has a point. But to grasp the problem, we need to begin at the other end of the eel's life cycle, not with the muscular monsters Hackforth and Britain's remaining eel fishermen haul up in their fyke nets. And whatever the ancients imagined about the eel's origins, the reality is just as strange. On a crisp autumn morning by a sluice gate on the King's Sedgemoor Drain in the Somerset Levels, Andy Don, Environment Agency technical officer and all-round eel expert, recounts one of the natural world's most extraordinary stories.

Baby eels are hatched from eggs in the upper levels of the warm, unfathomably deep Sargasso Sea, halfway between Bermuda and the West Indies. "They're minute at that stage, willow leaf-shaped, called leptocephali – 'small heads'," says Don. Over the next couple of years, they drift across to Europe on the Gulf Stream. When they arrive at the Continental Shelf, generally in early spring, they change shape: they're now cylindrical, not flat.

At this stage, now known as glass eels, the tide washes them into our river mouths. Some stay in the estuaries. Others work their way upstream, "burrowing into the edges and margins, penetrating way inland". These are elvers, perhaps still only 7cm or 8cm long. As they go, they gain colour. If the ground is damp, they'll travel overland.

And when they've reached somewhere they're happy, they stay, as yellow eels, feeding and growing and swelling and darkening, for perhaps seven years if they decide to become a male, and 12 if they're female. Some live undisturbed in forgotten pools for 25, 30, even 40 years.

And then, says Don, "one dark night, usually in September or October, usually after rain and when the moon's overcast, they get the call. No one knows why. They turn a kind of mottled green-black on top, silver underneath. They head downstream on the flood, and swim 3,000 miles back to the Sargasso Sea. Then they spawn, and die."

(Eels being eels, no one has actually seen this last bit happen. It's scientific conjecture, a theory first elaborated in 1922 by a dedicated Dane, Johannes Schmidt, who devoted 15 years of his life to hunting tiny, almost transparent larvae 7mm long in the mid-Atlantic. And although no one has ever found an adult eel, let alone an egg, in the Sargasso Sea, no one has yet disproved his theory either.)

No one knows, either, exactly why glass eel numbers have plummeted. It could, says Don, be to do with slight shifts in the Gulf Stream's direction: the baby eels may be getting swept past us. Or it could be changes in its temperature. The eels' wetland habitat has also shrunk down the years, and a parasite is playing havoc with their swim bladders, affecting their ability to move up and down through the ocean's layers. Perhaps a buildup of pesticides in their bodies means the adult eels are not as fit as they were when they spawn.

What is certain, says Adam Piper, who is doing an agency-funded PhD on eel behaviour, is that a growing number of increasingly impermeable man-made structures on Britain's rivers are making their journeys harder. "Look at what they face now," Piper says: "Weirs, locks, sluices, pumping stations. All built of concrete and steel, not leaky wood. Anything hydraulic is a disaster; turbines just chop them up." Piper is working on how eels cope with different types of barrier, and why they choose one route over another. "They seem to be seeking out a path," he says, "not just going with the flow."

There is also, of course, the fishing. Not that Britain is a big eel fishery, stresses Heidi Stone, the agency's senior technical adviser: we haul in a negligible 2% of Europe's total eel catch. Barely 1,000 men here still fish for silver eel, with bag-shaped "fyke" nets or old-fashioned traps, and for glass eel with special dip nets – though glass eel fishing, centred on the rivers Severn, Wye and Parrett in the south-west, can be an exceedingly lucrative business.

The Parrett in particular, says Stone, is "elver central", accounting for almost all the glass eels harvested in the UK. "Round here," explains Don, "elvers were so abundant they used to use them as fertiliser. Then someone figured out you could feed glass eels on: grow them." Eel farms took off in Holland, and Asia, an even more massive market. In the 90s, it exploded: "These little fish, a couple of inches long, were worth a fortune." At the peak of the boom, a kilo of glass eels would fetch £575; this season's price was more like £220, still plenty in a part of the country not noted for its wealth.

Under the European eel recovery plan, much of the elver catch now goes for restocking. But on busy nights, the Somerset glass eel fishery can, warns Don, turn "quite nasty. In one spot someone might be earning two grand in a night, and in another, nothing . . . It can get quite heavy."

Heavy or not, Britain's share of Europe's eel catch can hardly be endangering the species. Immeasurably more damage, say the fishermen, is done by the commercial trawlers in the Bay of Biscay, and the villages in Spain and France whose economies depend almost entirely on elver fishing. France especially, it is rumoured, is flouting its restocking obligations and flogging as much as 15 tonnes – each tonne representing 3-4m baby eels – to China.

At a tense September meeting with Environment Agency officials in Lincoln, Anglia's eel men are far from happy. "Look at us," says Gary Lee. "We're not having any impact on the species at all. There's been no real drop-off in our silver eel catch. All these samples and studies, none of them show anything." In any case, adds Terry Smith, the problem will "solve itself. Twenty years ago, there were 100 eel men in north Lincolnshire; now there are three, and not one of us under 50. Another few years, we'll all be gone."

In the Brown and Forrest smokery in Hambridge, Somerset, owner Jesse Pattison isn't best pleased either. He smokes around eight tonnes of British eel a year, selling by mail order and to restaurants around the country. There are, he says, smokeries in Holland that ship many, many times more each week.

"We've always worked sustainably," he says, an array of glistening eels smoking gently behind him. "We work closely with our river keepers and individual fishermen. We don't import. We've always done things right, and now we get hit with this. The problem is the headline: Eels are heading for extinction. That's what the conservationists see. But on a European scale, we're insignificant." Longer term, Pattisson is cheered by news that second-generation cultivated eels have just been produced in Japan, using artificially inseminated, collected eggs. Until now, no one had ever bred an eel in captivity.

Patiently, Stone explains that the ban is a one-off, a holding measure in response to EU demands while new UK legislation comes in, hopefully by the end of the year. "We could have banned eel fishing outright," she says. "Norway has, Ireland has. I don't consider that a responsible, well-regulated and sustainable fishery is part of the problem. But we do have to demonstrate that's what the British fishery is."

Under the new management plans, a more flexible system of authorisations will replace unwieldy licences, with eel men providing accurate figures on their catches. Pumping stations and other water intakes will have to fit screens, so eels don't get sucked in. On weirs, locks and sluices, eel passes – fibreglass gutters, each fitted with a forest of short plastic bristles, and with a trickle of water running down them – are being hastily installed.

"They're low-cost and amazingly effective," says Andy Don, whose baby the scheme is. "If you put them in, the eels will come." Two days after his very first eel pass opened on King's Sedgemoor Drain, he watched open-mouthed as CCTV footage from the previous night showed 11,000 elvers wriggling their way up through the bristles and onwards, upstream. "This sluice was an impassable barrier," he says. "We spend a few hundred quid and" – he gestures happily – "now it isn't."

I meet Clifton-Dey, who did his master's degree on eel migration, very early one morning at Molesey Lock. The Environment Agency is doing a spot of electro-fishing on the Thames: lowering an electrode into the water from a small boat, momentarily stunning every fish within three metres. Today it's eels we're after. Data collected from the Thames over the past 15 years suggest "there might be the beginning of a decline in the adult freshwater population", Clifton-Dey says. "Something to keep an eye on."

In the boat, Darryl's colleague Dan Horsley plucks an eel from the tank and wraps it swiftly in cloth. It stops thrashing, but he still has to hold it down, using both hands. Its vital statistics recorded, Darryl lowers it gently into the river. It shrugs once, and vanishes. "Slippery as an eel" is absolutely right. Whether that expression will mean something to our grandchildren, no one can yet say.

Chasewater Dam - Update

Netting has now commenced on Chasewater. Although there has still been concerns over the operation. Environment officer Chris Daphne along with other members and local anglers raised these concerns with relevant authorities and feedback has been positive.

John Ellis - British Waterways National Fisheries and angling manager - has taken over the management of the contract as of 28th April 2010 for the initial part of the fish rescue. John has vast experience in such operations ( over 30 years ). He states -

The site is hampered with debris from the yachting club and the first nettings will aid in the removal of this debris. All fish will be transported in aerated tanks at low densities to avoid stress.

British Waterways have agreed along with the Environment agency and Lichfield district council for all Eels captured to be released into Jefferies Swag. We have been assured that as many Eels as possible will be rescued where health and safety constraints allow. It is possible that sufficient water will remain should any avoid capture. Fish restocking locations will be made available via LDC website and also Angling Trust website.

He has thanked and praised the people involved who have shown so much enthusiasm and commitment over trying to save our fisheries.

In addition he has suggested that the Local angling trust consultative for the region liase and visit the site and contractors. Mark Owen ( AT and Trent Rivers Trust) has agreed to do this.

Mark visited the site today and states -
He found a dedicated team working in difficult conditions. The reservoir has been drained to the same level as the canal and a number of fish removed including some fantastic Perch. Debris continues to damage nets and the next phase will continue once levels have been further reduced in order to rescue all fish, Mark assures us that all eels will be handled in the best possible way he will also be on hand to monitor the situation and will be kept informed of any new developments.

West Sutherland Fisheries Trust Eel Workshop

West Sutherland Fisheries Trust/Highland Council Countryside Rangers will be hosting an Eel workshop for 56 pupils of local primary schools. This has been organised by Trust Biologist and NAC Environment officer Chris Daphne. This is part of an ongoing project held last year in order to raise awarenes of all aspects of the lifecycle, habits and decline of the European Eel. It will also act as a taster for future field trips for all pupils in the West Sutherland area.

The event will be held in Lochinver Village hall on April 27th. There are a number of activities planned and these are listed below.

Presentation on the Lifecycle of the Eel and problems relating to the decline.
Ageing, growth and feeding - Looking at Otoliths, using microscopes, looking at invertebrates.
Looking at Eels, and anatomy - Eels in tanks will be observed looking at the external features.
Eel lifecycle game.
Eel arts and crafts.
Eels and poetry.

This workshop was carried out with other schools in the area last year and was a huge success and it is hoped this will be as succesful.