European eels are critically endangered and are widely farmed and fished — raising simultaneous conservation and welfare questions that are rarely addressed together.
European eel welfare and conservation are inseparable issues. The species depends on free movement through river systems — from marine spawning grounds to freshwater feeding habitats and back — and every dam, weir and river barrier represents both a conservation barrier and an individual animal welfare challenge as eels attempt passage. Commercial fishing of a critically endangered species raises both conservation and welfare questions simultaneously. Aquaculture eel welfare involves the standard fish farming welfare challenges: handling stress, stocking density, slaughter method. The most important welfare intervention is restoring the migration connectivity that allows individual eels to complete their natural life history.