European eels are critically endangered in the wild, and aquaculture that depends on wild-caught glass eels raises both conservation and welfare concerns.
European eel aquaculture represents a unique double welfare and conservation problem. Wild glass eel collection causes welfare harm to juvenile eels and simultaneously depletes the wild population that generates the juveniles. Farming eels therefore depends on perpetuating the conservation crisis it nominally reduces demand for. There is no viable captive breeding solution in sight. The honest assessment is that European eel consumption — whether wild-caught or farmed — contributes to population decline and involves welfare harms at multiple life stages. Cessation of eel harvesting for food is the only intervention that would benefit both individual eels and the wild population simultaneously.