European and American eels are in catastrophic decline yet continue to be harvested intensively, while the complexity of their life cycle makes welfare and conservation interventions uniquely challenging.
Eels face welfare threats throughout their extraordinary life cycle. Glass eels caught for aquaculture experience crowded transport conditions. Farmed eels are kept at high density with frequent handling stress. Wild eels migrating through turbines have a significant probability of lethal injury - passing through turbine blades causes catastrophic physical trauma. Even 'fish-friendly' turbines kill some proportion of passing eels. Overfishing of glass eels means most individuals never reach adulthood, preventing completion of a life cycle that evolved over millions of years.