European eel populations have declined by over 95% since the 1970s, with welfare implications for individual eels facing barriers, pollution, and turbine mortality throughout their life cycle.
European eel welfare involves barriers and hazards at every stage of an extraordinary life cycle. Silver eels migrating downstream to the Sargasso Sea for their terminal breeding journey face turbine mortality at hydroelectric facilities - death from mechanical injury in generators. Upstream migrating elvers face barriers that prevent access to freshwater growth habitats. Each individual eel that fails to complete its migration represents a welfare failure and a lost breeding contribution to a critically endangered population. Infrastructure interventions - eel passes, turbine shutdowns during migration periods, barrier removal - reduce welfare harm and contribute to population recovery simultaneously.