Over the last couple of days, the final event of the SUDOANG project was held online. The project set out to investigate why the European eel is not recovering, despite the agreed EU regulation (1100/2007) having been implemented for more than 10 years, and what improvements are needed to help save the eel. It has drawn on work in earlier projects on eel, beginning with INDICANG in 2005.
This massive coordinated effort between scientists and stakeholders in France, Spain and Portugal has collected vast amounts of data on eels, migration barriers and fisheries. The group has developed and tested monitoring and data collection protocols. All this information will be available for stakeholders to use through the VISUANG tool that has been developed, and was demonstrated during the event. They have also created a stakeholder platform for better eel governance called GOVERNANG.
It is hoped that monitoring and data collection in other regions can adapt and use these tools too, in order to create greater coherence across the EU.