European eel conservation

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With the vital help of citizen scientists and partner organisations ZSL has been working for the survival of Critically Endangered European eels.

Volunteer as a citizen scientist

ZSL’s work for the European eel in the Thames

European eels (Anguilla anguilla) once thrived in London’s rivers but the number of young joining the adult populations has dropped dramatically since the 1980s and the species is now classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ZSL’s work on European eels started in 2005, and now ranges from informing international conservation policy, leading UK research on eel behaviour to regional-scale best practice conservation delivery in the Thames Catchment. Here, through research, river improvements, public engagement and advising policy, we work in partnership with the Environment Agency and a network of other organizations to address the key conservation issues facing eels.

How can you help?

From March to June each year ZSL and project partners recruit citizen scientists at sites across the Thames region to help check eel traps and measure and release any eels present. This gives us data on the number of young joining the adult population and can highlight the impact of barriers, one of the principle threats to eels in freshwater.

– watch the video above for more information and click the link below to find out how you can get involved.

Volunteer as a citizen scientist

Reconnecting broken migratory pathways

A principle conservation action for eel in freshwater is to restore migratory pathways by removing barriers such as weirs. If removal is not possible, the impact of barriers can be partially mitigated by installing eel passes that allow eels to move upstream over them. With over 2000 barriers to migration, the Thames rivers are highly fragmented. One of ZSL’s key goals in the region is to reconnect migration routes. So far eel passes commissioned by ZSL have made 138.95 hectares of additional habitat accessible.

ZSL

EBAT Eel Barrier Assessment Tool

In 2018, ZSL produced a field guide for assessing the passability of man-made river structures by European eels entitled the Eel Barrier Assessment Tool (EBAT). This step-by-step guide has been designed for use by NGOs, consultants and regulators in the UK and other European eel-range countries. The field guide includes an overview of eel behaviour in freshwater and a series of questions about the structure and its environment to produce an overall assessment score. This is a coarse assessment that can help influence and prioritise future conservation action for the Critically Endangered European eel. You can download the EBAT and the EBAT Form below:

Eel Barrier Assessment Tool (1.49 MB)

Eel Barrier Assessment Form (688.29 KB)

Assessment of Adult European Eel Stocks in the Thames River Basin

ZSL has monitored the recruitment of juvenile eels into the Thames River Basin since 2005. The data collected to date supports the findings that the annual recruitment of the European eel across its range has reduced by 90-95% since the 1980s. It is likely that this reduction in recruitment will have had an impact on the numbers of adult eel in the Thames River Basin. In 2019, ZSL repeated surveys of adult eels undertaken in 1987 and 2011 to assess the geographic spread of eel populations in the Thames and identify the effect of the range of measures that have been introduced to improve eel stocks.

Thames Eel Management Plan

ZSL is a key partner in delivering the Environment Agency’s Thames Eel Management Plan. The management plan outlines key targets and measures to improve the population and conservation of the European eel. Given the scale of the challenges faced by eels, working together is essential. – if you or your organization would like to join us in this work please get in touch.

ObstacEELS

ZSL are working with partners in the Thames Rivers Trust Thames Catchment Community Eels Project to co-develop a standardised methodology for citizen science river walkover surveys with the aim of mapping barriers and assessing their impact on upstream eel migration. The barrier assessment method will be based on the EBAT scoring system and data captured using the River Obstacles App, which ZSL worked in partnership to help relaunch in 2021. This is an exciting development which will help fill data gaps on where barriers are in our rivers nationally and help river Catchment Partnerships make decisions about how to prioritise conservation action for eel and other fish species by restoring source to sea habitat connectivity.