European eels are critically endangered from habitat loss, barriers to migration, and harvesting. Their welfare during harvesting and the ecological consequences of population collapse are both significant.
European eels face a welfare and conservation crisis simultaneously. Their complex migration requirements mean they are killed in turbines at hydropower stations throughout their lifecycle. Commercial harvest of juvenile glass eels removes animals before they can reproduce. Live eel transport and traditional killing methods including smoking alive cause welfare harm. The collapse of eel populations represents both an ecological catastrophe and the elimination of the welfare interests of billions of individual animals.