The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced the completion of an extensive status review of the American eel, concluding that protecting the eel as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted.



In completing the review, the Service examined all available information about the American eel population from Greenland south along the North American coast to Brazil in South America and as far inland as the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River drainage. While the eel population has declined in some areas, the species' overall population is not in danger of extinction or likely to become so in the foreseeable future, the Service decided.



"The eel population as a whole shows significant resiliency. If we look at eels over time, we see fluctuations in the population numbers, so a decreasing number of eels right now does not necessarily forecast an irreversible trend," according to Heather Bell, Service fishery biologist.





"Overfishing and hydropower turbines continue to impact eels in some regions, such as Lake Ontario and Chesapeake Bay, although these factors do not fully explain the reduced number of eels migrating up the St. Lawrence Seaway and into Lake Ontario," Bell said.



Several actions have been taken in an effort to conserve eel populations including installation of eel ladders for upstream passage at hydropower projects, implementation of state harvest restrictions, and dam removals that open historic eel habitat. In addition, Canadian resource agencies have closed the harvest of eels in the Canadian portion of Lake Ontario. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is considering designating the American eel a "species of special concern." During the next few months, the Service will prepare suggestions for managing to allow for eel fishery sustainability while ensuring adequate conservation measures for the species.



The Service initiated the status review in 2004 at the request of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, representing 15 states from Maine to Florida. Following that request, Douglas Harold Watts of Augusta, Maine, and Timothy Allan Watts of South Middleborough, Mass., requested by petition that Endangered Species Act protection be extended to the eel.



The Service determined in 2005 that substantial biological information existed to warrant a more thorough examination and began a comprehensive review of all the available scientific and commercial information. The Service hosted two workshops to discuss threats and vulnerabilities with eel experts from federal and state agencies, nonprofit organizations, private industry, Native American tribes, academia, the ASMFC, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Canada, England and Japan.



American eels begin life in the Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea near Bermuda. The larvae ride the Gulf Stream for several months until they make their way to Continental Shelf waters.



Some eels grow to adulthood in the marine environment; some go into freshwater/saltwater estuaries; some migrate up rivers and streams; and some eels move from one habitat to another as they develop. Biologists believe this adaptability among various environments enhances the species' ability to survive despite threats in one or more environments.



Eels in the marine environment grow faster and mature earlier than those in freshwater. Eels in large freshwater systems may grow slowly for as long as 40 years, becoming much larger than eels in salt water before beginning their downstream migration en route to the Sargasso Sea where they spawn.



The "Federal Register" notice with the status review on American eels will be published Feb. 2. See http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/index.html For additional information about American eels, see http://www.fws.gov/northeast/ameel

The Gulf Stream, the Blue God, the Great North American gyre. Hats off. Below 5000 meters, underneath the Gulf Stream, the current actually flows south. This is how the North Atlantic ocean drains back down to the equator. I think the eels ride this undercurrent down into the sargasso and then the fry catch a ride in the warm Gulf Stream on their way north--But how do they know when to get off?

Hands down the single most incredible life history of an animal on the planet. Pass the 4/0 please.

Good reading, Chef.

awesome!

I was just out on the Tobin Bridge getting ready to jump when a friend called me with the news of this post.Sounds like my lack of fishing skill will be compensated for indefinitely.:happy:

Just beat me to it! Anyway, now I get to brag that my prediction was correct :)

Seriously though, its good to have scientific data for stuff like this to debunk the "sky is falling" crowd. I honestly had no idea what the outcome would be, but hoped for a good explanation either way that was backed by good science and research.

People try to sell you uninformed,subjective b.s. with regard to the bass populations too, and it bothers me. If you look at the scientific data sometimes before opining, you'll see there's plenty of them too.:uhuh:

This is great news for all us less skilled fisherman.

I hope #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& doesn't read your comments about how eels are for less skilled fisherman... let's not get that started again.
Either way, this is great news and supports my plan of doing a lot of eel fishing this coming season.

I was just out on the Tobin Bridge getting ready to jump when a friend called me with the news of this post.Sounds like my lack of fishing skill will be compensated for indefinitely.:happy:


good thing you have friends and a cell . I wish I did ! Im on my way to the roof now .

I think George Calin said it best,

"Save the whales...save those snails!"

all I can say is thank you!cuase I love eels.:claps:

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Told Ya so........Sorry, there shall be many more eel caught bass in the future:laugha: :laugha: :laugha:

This is great news for all fisherman.....And its what I knew all along from Reliable sources.....I love it!

this is going to destroy the fishing in narragansett-







just kidding. Im glad the eels are doin alright :D

This is great news for all us less skilled fisherman.

Not less skilled... just the ones that catch Big fish :grins:

This could be good news.

However, as part of the sky is falling group :doh: :poke: ... I will add that, as of last spring there was not enough data for a decision to be made. If you go find the literature on it, it was repeated again and again that there isn't enough data. For anyone who knows the way it works, from july to february is not enough time to collect data, analyze it, have it reviewed, meet about it, etc. Hopefully the science behind this decision is sound, it just doesn't make sense that it would come now from everything I have heard and read from procedings, including word of mouth from people who sit in on them.

Endangered/threatend status is a drastic qualification and very difficult to get for many reasons.

Again, this sounds good...

Some interesting quotes from the minutes of the meting. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but wanted to share some of what I found so far on the relationship btw. eels and freshwater.

From the American Eel Status Review Workshop 1: Atlantic Coast/Islands Threats

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Cooperation with National Marine Fisheries Service

National Conservation Training Center
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
November 29 – December 1, 2005

"Rob indicated the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) seems to be driven by extinction. He asked if the question was, if we loose the freshwater habitat, will the American eel go extinct? Heather stated that was really the question, but the lawyer won’t let us ask the question. She said what she can ask, is whether the freshwater habitats are important for sustainability?"

"Steve Gephard noted that some of the discussion reflects researchers that want to quantify and define very precisely. For the big picture, he thought that this missed the point. He noted the animal forces itself upstream into freshwater habitat, and in Connecticut, it is the most widespread and abundant animal present in such habitats. It seemed arrogant to him to even question the importance of this habitat to them. It would be similar to him to questioning the value of tropical habitat for scarlet tanagers wintering, for example. If we question the value of freshwater habitat, we’re questioning the catadromous nature of the species."

"John Casselman noted that at one time, eels were half the inshore biomass in the Great Lakes, and they aren’t today. He viewed the freshwater habitat as really critical."

"Alastair noted that it was clear that freshwater was important to eel life history, and clearly was threatened."

"John Casselman noted that there were advantageous factors in freshwater. He critically important. The eels would survive, but not at a productive level."

"Heather noted that “sustainable” here didn’t relate to fishery use. She noted that she didn’t add enough eels to provide for fishery use, in a Status Review, only those necessary to sustain the population viability and keep it from going extinct."

"Heather noted that a decline is not a reason for listing. The issue is whether it will remain on the planet at a level which is sustainable for the population. But, it can’t be on some downward trend that will continue. That would mean we list it as threatened. Paul noted we don’t know what the true trend is at all. "

I guess nows a good time to dump my sluggo stock...

Not less skilled... just the ones that catch Big fish :grins:

:humpty: :humpty: :humpty: :humpty:

this is going to destroy the fishing in narragansett-






:D

:blush: :gf:

"*****Heather noted that “sustainable” here didn’t relate to fishery use. She noted that she didn’t add enough eels to provide for fishery use, in a Status Review, only those necessary to sustain the population viability and keep it from going extinct.*****"

"Heather noted that a decline is not a reason for listing. The issue is whether it will remain on the planet at a level which is sustainable for the population. But, it can’t be on some downward trend that will continue. That would mean we list it as threatened. ****Paul noted we don’t know what the true trend is at all. ****"

Don't sell your sluggos yet... There are plenty of things that aren't status endangered/threatened that can't be harvested, i.e. bluebacks and alewives. According to "heather" harvest wasn't considered in the data. There may be harvest limits or prohibitions once ASMFC and NMF get the data that they just started collecting. I am not sure of the time line at this point...

Key point is they aren't addressing the use of eels commercially or trapping for rec.fishing. It may not be too far down the road that we can't use em for fishing.

Any bait shop people know where most of the eels are coming from in the shops? I thought a good percent came fromCanada, but I could be wrong...

The identity of Heather, as indicated above...

Heather Bell, Service fishery biologist.

More eels

Eels in the ocean
Eels in the stream
Eels in the turbines,
I could just scream!

More eels for sushi
More eels for bass
This eel decline
Is quite a morass!

We all want more eels
Don’t know who’s the worst
But more eels for elvers
Have got to come first!

-Paul Angermeier

Yes, a large part of the eels we use around here come from Canada, but that's not true up and down the coast. Most of the eels used in NY come from NY, most of the eels used further south come from the Chesapeak.

think prices will come down a bit?

i was hoping this would be the case... i hadnt done any eel fishing until last year.... I will be doing more this year :)

Finished reading the minutes from the first workshop and thought I would post some clips from the conversation of the scientists trying to make the decision on the eels- pretty interesting reading, hope these are of interest in broadening the discussion. Seems like there could be some room for anglers to get together to promote measures to improve conditions for eels- such as pushing for ladders so that they can get around dams and turbines- turbine mortality and barriers to previous freshwater habitats is one factor that comes up over and over again.

Also noteworthy was that they didn't feel that use of eels as bait was much of a factor at all in the perceived decline in the overall eel population. Right, just putting it out there for the record...

John Casselman noted that they had been monitoring the eels passing the St. Lawrence, and assessed the turbine mortality, in comparison to the yellow eel fishery, and found they were about of equal magnitude, at 40 percent. Bill Richkus noted that his recollection was correct, about the EPRI study, which found that turbine mortality was most often in the range of 20-30 percent...

Steve Gephard noted that he was concerned about the long-term impacts of downstream turbine mortality. Up until the 1900's, there were many dams, but they were low-head, and didn’t use much water. After WWII, we saw an increase in the construction of really large hydro projects, that take much of the flow of larger rivers, and run them through turbines. So, we might just be beginning to see the impacts on a panmictic population. He noted that if we build a complete barrier to an anadromous run, we see the impact in one generation. For American eels, say on the Housatonic, we kill all the silver eels coming down, we won’t see a cessation of recruitment, because of the panmictic nature of the species. He asked if the decline we’re seeing now is the result of the post-WWII dam construction, and the decline will continue slowly. He noted that our modelers can simulate when the population will crash, for other species. His concern is whether we are in one of those modes, where the American eel population is in the process of a long-term crash. He noted he wouldn’t use the “extinct” word. He asked if the hydropower operations already present could represent a threat to long-term sustainability?

Rob indicated that Steve had said what he had been trying to say, for four months now. When you add the cumulative effects of fishing on top of that, it is a real issue...

Rob noted that he had heard reference to the eel decline, several times, and asked if there was a decline? He stated he thought there is some debate about that issue. Heather noted that it has been on people’s minds, and asked how important it was to have information on that at the next workshop? She noted that we didn’t have time to address it at this one. She asked if it was easy to have a threat conversation, in the absence of information on any decline? Rob asked about the time frame for the ASMFC stock assessment. Heather indicated that she has to have her work done on November 18, 2006. She asked if it would be essential to have the stock assessment before she could complete the Status Review?
Jake didn’t think that we had to have the stock assessment, before we did a threat analysis. He noted that the human population was clearly not in decline, but was clearly threatened by nuclear warfare. So, he noted that the threats analysis could be completed. He did note that the stock assessment would influence his opinion regarding whether the species should be threatened or endangered...

Heather noted that she was left with certainty, and uncertainty, and we were faced with making a decision that had a high level of uncertainty. She noted that things may change next year in terms of recruitment, but that any response in terms of production might take years. She noted there was a lot of speculation today about factors that may be influencing things, but she has to make a decision regarding the status of the species...

Brian Knights noted there had been a lot of discussion in Europe, and the precautionary principle had been applied. He suggested that if the decision was made not to list, that application of the precautionary principle was an option. John asked if that was happening in Europe. Brian indicated that more restrictive regulations are being applied. He noted that they are stopping short of listing it as an endangered species...

John Casselman asked to speak before he left. Their modeling suggested that there were in the past 9-11 million eels in Lake Ontario. They were big eels. Now, they have only about 100,000, with 10,000 leaving each year. That means that up to 10-15 percent of the entire spawning stock biomass could have come from that one basin, so it represents a major loss...

Sheila asked why, if they had figured out six years ago that the eel was overfished, why weren’t management regulations changed then? Jim stated it wasn’t that easy. Julie noted that ASMFC has to work within the multi-state FMP (Fisheries Management Plan). The fishery extends across state lines. Sheila noted that a state can be more restrictive. Julie noted that was not likely to happen in MD. Sheila noted that it was still of interest that they reached this conclusion six years ago. Julie noted there were other factors...

Jim noted that three years or so ago, they did a survey of bait dealers in MD, and Harley Speir could say what they did. Jim didn’t recall what they measured. He didn’t believe it was much of a threat...

Julie indicated that the bait eels used for striped bass cost a dollar apiece. She felt that the numbers would be fairly small. She didn’t believe it was anywhere near the scale of the commercial landings. She didn’t believe that anyone would go out and buy 100 eels for recreational fishing. Jim noted that a lot of this was speculation.

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Told Ya so........Sorry, there shall be many more eel caught bass in the future:laugha: :laugha: :laugha:

This is great news for all fisherman.....And its what I knew all along from Reliable sources.....I love it!

great news :bounce:

I was going into winter mode for a while

now I am excited again

bring on the cows!!!!!