To protect endangered eels in Germany: Federal government sets closed season in the North Sea

Claudia Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, explains: "Without better protection, the eel is facing extinction - given the dramatically low population, it is high time to act. The closed season helps the eels ready to spawn to make the long migration to their spawning grounds in the Atlantic, the Sargasso Sea east of Florida. The protection of the eel is also important because of its socio-economic importance: eel harvesting secures income in many places in Germany - for a long supply chain from fishing to tourism. Giving the eel population a perspective therefore also means securing the livelihoods of people on the coasts and in rural areas in the long term. Eel protection in German inland waters must therefore also be improved, for example in the design of stocking measures. It is therefore to be welcomed that the federal states have announced that they will revise their eel management plans for better eel protection." The eel ...