In view of a remaining acute threat to the species, the Swedish Board of Fisheries proposes a 50 per cent reduction in eel catches by 2013.
The EU Fisheries Ministers last year called for the Member States to submit national management plans for the dwindling stocks to the Commission by the end of 2008.
In its draft plan for Sweden, which will now be referred for consideration to concerned bodies for later confirmation by the government, the Board of Fisheries proposed a 20 per cent reduction in 2009 as a first step. The type of regulation will differ from area to area along the Swedish coasts. On the West Coast, the period when eel fishing is banned will be prolonged by 4.5 months, while so-called effort regulations will be enforced on the East Coast and in fresh water areas. That means that licenses will be tied to specific locations and tools.
The dire situation for the eel in Swedish water has been obvious for many years. Millions of eels migrated up the Göta Älv river (connects to the Skagerrak at Göteborg) in the 1950’s – this year some 100 did it, according to the Board of Fisheries. Fifty years ago tens of thousands were found in the Nyköpingsån river south of Stockholm on the Baltic Coast – this year about ten.
Sweden enforced a general ban on eel fishing on 1 May 2007. The only exception was made for professional fishermen with special licenses, the minimum requirement for obtaining one being that the fisherman had caught an average of 400 kilos of eel annually in 2003-2005. Close to 400 licenses were granted and renewed this year.
Following the ban, primarily affecting private, leisure fishing, eel catches fell by 30 per cent in 2007. The measures proposed now are aimed at the professional fisheries, the Board stated.
The proposal also included improvements in order to make it easier for migrating eel to pass power plant turbines in the rivers, and increased re-stocking.