Thursday, 9 January 2025

Outrage over export of endangered eels from British rivers for 'commercial trade' in Russia

Endangered eels from British rivers are being exported to Russia (photo: Sustainable Eel Group)

 
CELEBITY naturalist Chris Packham and the RSPB's operations director James Robinson  are among those who have signed an  open letter condemning exports of eels from Britain to Russia.

The letter states: "Britain has been quietly increasing exports of European eel to Russia over the past few years - from half-a-million juveniles in 2022 to three million in 2024.

"This is despite the fact that the species is endangered, and no river in England and Wales is close to meeting its conservation target. 

"There are now proposals to increase the exports five-fold, to 15 million."

The letter, which has been published in today's edition of The Daily Telegraph, continues:  

"Advocates for this policy maintain there is a surfeit of eels in the Bristol Channel, and that re-routing the stock to Kaliningrad will ensure a greater proportion make it back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.

"However, the conservation logic is cover for a commercial trade.

"Eels are grown-on in a contained area and eventually harvested for consumption. 

"Yuri Maslov, the director of Kaliningrad’s fisheries agency, is on record as saying that, while the imported fish could theoretically leave Russian waters in several years 'by that time they will have already been caught''.

"Even in times of peace, it would be irresponsible to propose a trade where monitoring procedures are compromised. 


"In the current geopolitical climate, trade with Russia is also surely an issue of national security.


"It would be better for the eel and the elvermen if the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursued a cost-effective programme of  'conservation fishing', catching and re-releasing the juvenile fish into suitable habitat in Britain."


The full list of signatories to the letter is:


Andrew Kerr

Chairman, Sustainable Eel Group


Chris Packham 

Conservationist and presenter of BBC Springwatch


Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall 

Chef, author and broadcaster


Tessa Munt MP (Lib Dem)


Mark Lloyd 

Chief executive, Rivers Trust


Vanessa Becker-Hughes

Eel ambassador and founder of the Somerset Eel Recovery Project


Richard Benwell

Chief executive, Wildlife and Countryside Link


Charlie Burrell

Conservationist and founder, Knepp Wildland


Charles Clover

Co-founder and senior advisor, Blue Marine Foundation


Paul Coulson

Chief executive, Institute for Fisheries Management


Willem Dekker

Former chairman, ICES Working Group Eel


Alastair Driver

Honorary professor of environmental management, University of Exeter


John and Elaine Elkington

Founders, Volans


Mark Everard

Associate professor of ecosystem services, University of the West of England


Richard Fleming

Nature writer


Ben Goldsmith

Former DEFRA non-executive director


Zac Goldsmith

Former minister for climate, environment and energy


Derek Gow

Conservationist and wildlife reintroduction specialist


Rupert de Mauley

Former parliamentary under-secretary, DEFRA


Richard Page

Environmental and marine consultant


Paul Powelsland

Barrister at Lawyers for Nature


Carl Sayer

Professor of geography, University College London


Charles Rangeley

Conservationist and chairman, CaBA Chalk Stream Restoration Group


James Robinson

Chief operating officer, RSPB

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