Moves by powerful forces to circumvent the European Union’s ban on eel exports to third nations, particularly the Asian market which offers exorbitant prices, have been finally averted – for at least a year.
Just days before the glass eel fishing season was to begin on 1 November, the EU Commission issued a “clarification” establishing the conditions under which exemptions could be made from the temporary ban. The clarification, in itself an indication that sector interests in some nations were trying to get around the ban, made exemptions highly unlikely, if not impossible.
On 6 December, the Commission’s Committee on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora, following the unanimous recommendation from its scientific advisory body, the Scientific Review Group, decided to extend the ban for a year.
The Scientific Review Group will reassess the situation for the severely threatened stock at the end of 2011, but both the chair of the Scientific Review Group and the representative of DG Mare pointed out that the eel stock is very unlikely to recover until then.
The Committee on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora was the responsible body, since the European eel is protected under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES.
According to some sources before the meeting, the were indications that member nations would even suggest a de-listing of the species; in the end, an upgrading was discussed instead, from annex B where the eel is listed now, to annex A, offering even stronger protection. No decision was made to that end, but discussions are likely to continue.
Meanwhile, Willem Dekker, a leading international eel scientist and chair of the ICES Workshop on Baltic Eel, published an opinion piece on CFP-reformwatch, expressing strong frustration over the slow pace in EU eel management.
CFP-reformwatch is a website started by Isabella Lövin, a Swedish Green EU Parliamentarian.
“Every five years’ delay so far has roughly halved the remaining eel stock”, Dekker said. “While we struggle with our discussions and plans, the clock is ticking”.