European Eel Conservation and Welfare: A Critically Endangered Fish in Crisis

The European eel is one of the world's most enigmatic and critically endangered fish species. Its complex life history and the multiple threats it faces make conservation urgent, while its wide use in aquaculture and as food raises important welfare questions.

Key Facts

European eels (Anguilla anguilla) are catadromous fish that spend decades growing in freshwater before undertaking an epic 6,000km migration to the Sargasso Sea to spawn — a journey from which they never return
The species is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; recruitment of juvenile glass eels to European rivers has declined by over 95% since the 1970s
Threats are numerous and synergistic: overfishing of glass eels and elvers, river barriers (dams, weirs) blocking migration, habitat loss, pollution, parasitic infection by the invasive nematode Anguillicoloides crassus, and climate change
European eels cannot be bred in captivity — all farmed eels begin as wild-caught glass eels or elvers, meaning aquaculture exerts direct pressure on wild populations
Glass eels are a luxury food product in Spain (angulas) and Japan, commanding prices over €1,000/kg and driving an illegal trade estimated to involve millions of euros annually
Fish welfare science has established that eels, like other teleost fish, possess nociceptors and demonstrate avoidance learning consistent with pain experience
Slaughter methods for eels are often particularly poor; traditional practices including gutting live eels or using ice slurry without stunning cause prolonged suffering
River restoration, including fish passes at barriers, has been shown to improve eel recruitment and population recovery in treated river systems

Welfare Considerations

The European eel faces a dual welfare challenge: the wild population is collapsing from human pressures, and individually caught eels are frequently killed or handled in ways that cause suffering. As fish welfare science has advanced, it has become increasingly difficult to argue that eels — which have complex nervous systems and demonstrate clear pain responses — do not experience suffering. The traditional practice of skinning or gutting live eels without prior stunning, still common in some European culinary traditions, causes prolonged suffering and should be replaced by electric or percussive stunning methods. The glass eel trade connects individual welfare harms to population-level conservation crisis: the removal of millions of juvenile eels from already depleted rivers to supply luxury food markets and aquaculture farms undermines recovery. Conservation of the European eel is therefore simultaneously a welfare issue (preventing ongoing individual suffering from poor slaughter practices) and a population-level moral concern (preventing extinction of a species that has existed for millions of years).

What You Can Do

Support river restoration organisations working to remove or modify barriers to eel migration — fish passes at dams and weirs are effective tools for supporting eel recovery
Avoid purchasing European eel products (glass eels/angulas, elvers, farmed eel) given the species' critically endangered status and the welfare concerns around its capture and slaughter
Advocate for mandatory pre-slaughter stunning of eels in all commercial and domestic preparation — this is technically feasible and dramatically reduces suffering
Support enforcement of the EU glass eel export ban, which prohibits trade of this critically endangered life stage to aquaculture operations outside Europe
Engage with wild fisheries management to support science-based catch limits that allow some recreational eel populations to recover
Learn about and share the extraordinary biology of European eels — public understanding of their remarkable life history builds conservation support