80,000 young eels for the Flensburg Fjord: Nature Conservation campaign started!

80,000 young eels for the Flensburg Fjord: Nature Conservation campaign started!

In a remarkable step to strengthen the eAL population in the Flensburg Fjord, around 80,000 young eels were exposed on June 27, 2025. The campaign took place on the north bank at Collund in Denmark and was organized by conservationists as well as fishermen from Germany and Denmark. This was already the fourth event of this kind and cost around 20,000 euros, as NDR reported.

The decline in eel stocks in recent decades has been alarming. The existence of the European eel (Anguilla Anguilla) has been declining for over 30 years, and the glass hall volume is now below 10% of the average from 1960 to 1979, which is particularly dramatic in the North Sea. Despite international protective measures, such as the admission in Appendix II of Cites and the EU regulation 1100/2007 for the creation of eel management plans, the ealpopulation is in a critical condition, such as the Thünen-Institut

The fight against the decline

The stocking measures, which also include the current suspension, should counteract the worrying decline in the eel stock. Fischer an der Schlei has been actively committed to such actions for 13 years. In 2022, for example, around 110,000 small eels were released in the Schlei, and the budget for the eel icing measures was a remarkable 123,000 euros. The financing is made up of 40% own funds and donations of the fishermen as well as 60% public grants, with a large part of the European Sea and Fishing Fund (EMFF), such as Schleswig-holstein.de emphasized.

A significant part of the occupied eels theoretically reaches the spawning age; However, many are caught prematurely or die due to various factors such as pollution and diseases. In 2007, the EU issued the "eel regulation" that the member states obliged to draw up specific eel management plans to protect these stocks. But the challenges are numerous: losing habitat, climatic changes and fishing economy are strongly concerned with the eels.

exchange and cooperation

The international eel work groups, such as EFAAC/ICES/GFCM WGEEL, continuously work on the documentation of the inventory and call on the EU to obtain current scientific knowledge about hiking behavior and the reproduction biology of the eel. The decline in stocks is caused by numerous factors, and comprehensive research into the economic and socio -economic aspects is necessary to evaluate effective management measures.

According to estimates, the full closure of fishing could cost up to 50 million euros in direct income per year, and the collapse of glass hall fishing could lead to losses in the aquaculture of around 37 million euros. This shows how closely species protection and economic interests are linked.