General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean - GFCM

Research Programme
European eel

Towards coordination of European eel stock management and recovery in the Mediterranean (Phase 1) and roadmap towards informing the future GFCM long-term management plan for European eel in the Mediterranean (Phase 2)

European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a migratory diadromous species with a unique life cycle. Between the spawning phase and pre-reproductive stage, European eel migrates from the Sargasso Sea to grow in lagoons, rivers and lakes of the Mediterranean region and Northern Europe.

European eel has been declining globally due to a combination of natural causes and anthropogenic pressures impacting both the species and its habitats at different life stages. Following Recommendation GFCM/42/2018/1 and discussions held at the 2019 GFCM Working Group on the management of European eel (WGMEASURES – EEL), the GFCM implemented a research programme on European eel in the Mediterranean Sea from 2020 to 2022. To follow up on the outcomes of this initiative, in 2023, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (SAC) endorsed the 2023–2024 Roadmap to inform a long-term management plan for eel in the Mediterranean with selected activities in support of the decision-making process.

Area of implementation

Focus Countries:

Algeria, Albania, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye

Phase 1

Objective  
The main aim of the research programme was to devise a coordinated framework for the collection, collation and analysis of data, conducive to the assessment and management of the resource with a view to laying the foundations for a long-term multiannual management plan for European eel in the Mediterranean. 

Duration  
2020–2022

Activities
The research programme had five specific goals, each corresponding to one work package (WP):

WP 1. Identify and appraise management and protection measures for stock recovery.

WP 2. Establish a common framework for long-term monitoring of European eel in the Mediterranean.  

WP 3. Collect and update data concerning eel stock and eel habitats in the Mediterranean region. 

WP 4. Establish a common framework for European eel stock assessment and appraise potential management scenarios in the Mediterranean.  

WP 5. Establish coordination and networking among partners and set up capacity-building activities throughout the duration of the research programme.  

Advisory board

Scientific coordinator

  • Argyrios Sapounidis

External scientific experts 

  • Prof. Reinhold Hanel, Institute of Fisheries Ecology Thünen Institute (Germany)
  • Prof. Giulio De Leo, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University (USA)

Phase 2

Objective  
The main aim of the 2023–2024 Roadmap was to identify a possible toolbox or suite of potential management measures to ensure the conservation of European eel while maintaining some level of employment/revenue for fishers.

Duration  
2023–2024

Activities
In order to inform future long-term measures for European eel in the Mediterranean, the 2023–2024 Roadmap had the following specific goals:

  • Increase the size of the subset of data-rich sites, reviewing, updating and integrating available data towards a larger database of sites for which exhaustive information is available.
  • Perform a socioeconomic study of European eel fisheries in the Mediterranean and take into account its results within the management strategy evaluation (MSE).
  • Perform a multi-objective MSE evaluating different measures in terms of their estimated conservation benefits (solutions that maximize conservation by ensuring silver eel escapement from single catchments and maximize escapement of silver eels with high spawning potential to contribute to the global stock recovery) against estimated socioeconomic impacts, aiming for minimal possible socioeconomic drawbacks.

Learn more about the GFCM management-oriented research.