European eels are critically endangered and face welfare harms from electrofishing, aquaculture, and barriers to their ancient migration routes.
Electrofishing for eel monitoring causes measurable cardiac and muscle damage, and can kill a proportion of eels caught. The collection of wild glass eels for aquaculture depletes already critically low wild populations. Farmed eels are held in high-density systems far from their natural habitat with no opportunity for migration. The critical endangerment of the species means that welfare and conservation harms are inseparable.