The Ukrainian War not limited to the trenchesthe heavens, intelligence. The conflict, started in February 2022 by Russia with its invasion, has tentacles in the defense and security of the entire world, but also in its economy… and even in its gastronomy.
As the British newspaper indicates, this year millions of critically endangered eels from the estuary Severn a Rusia and conservationists fear that Export quotas will increase next year. An environmental complaint to which is added the purely strategic: why is it still negotiating so much with Russiasubjected to attacking Ukraine?
a ton of glass eels – the baby eels that swim into European estuaries from the Sargasso Sea each spring – was flown to Kaliningrad this year, double of the amount exported to the Russian port the previous year. Sources in the eel sector indicate to the aforementioned media that next year the request could increase up to five tons. There are about three million fish per ton, according to European parameters.
The European eel (anguilla anguilla is its technical name) is a protected species included in the red listsince the number of those that migrate to European rivers has decreased 95% since the 1980s.
In 2010, the European Union (EU) banned trade in European eels outside their natural range in Europe. Since Brexit, the United Kingdom You cannot export elvers to EU countries. However, a legal loophole allows elvers to be caught and exported to non-EU destinations in their natural European range if used for conservation purposes, such as restocking lakes or rivers.
Andrew Kerr, of the Sustainable Eel Group, a European body that works with scientists, conservationists and commercial fishermen, described “crazy” the fact that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has allowed the export of elvers to Kaliningrad.
According to Kerr, the eels exported to the Russian port could be smuggled east to Asiawhere there is a huge demand for young eels to supply fish farms because no one has discovered how to breed this enigmatic species in captivity, which can live up to 50 years in European rivers and lakes before returning to its birthplace, the Sargasso Seato reproduce.
“Eel trafficking is the biggest crime against wildlife on the planetKerr stated. “It is very risky to send them to Kaliningrad, the most infamous corner of Europe, where everything is traded: humans, drugs, guns and eels”.
Peter Wood of UK Glass Eels, which has been exporting elvers for more than 50 years, said the ban on eel exports to Russia would stop traditional fishing on the River Severn because there are no other markets to export to. The export of elvers to Asia is prohibited. “That would close the fishery and would make hundreds of years of heritage and culture disappear“Wood stated.
Last year, government scientists issued a ruling “no detriment” to eelsconsidering that until 2026 there was a surplus of glass eels that could be harvested in the River Severn and the River Parrett, even allowing catch rates of up to 75% of the population. This allows its legal export.
Wood said he hoped to increase the number of elvers he would transport on his company plane to Kaliningrad next year. He said the eels were intended for a conservation project “resettlement” run by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, whereby young eels are placed in the Vistula and Courland lagoons, which Russia shares with Poland and Lithuania. From there, mature eels can reach the Baltic and potentially return to their breeding grounds in the Sargasso Sea.
“It is a project fantastic. It will probably be the largest sock storage project in Europe once it gets underway. Everyone wins”, he stated.
As for allegations that shipping eels to Russia risked them being smuggled to Asia, Wood said: “I don’t think there’s any evidence of that. It is an environmental project with a vision of the future. We don’t see this level of care in many of these repopulation projects in Europe. It is absolutely transparent. “They send the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Defra) a very detailed report of the repopulation carried out and the deaths in the quarantine station.”
And he added: “Part of the problem is the moral dilemma of working with Russia. They are not getting these elvers for free. For every hundred kilos of elvers they have, that It will be one less missile they can afford to send.“.
Kerr said it was not good conservation practice to send the eels to the eastern edge of their natural range, where individuals had less likely to return to Sargasso What if they stayed in the Severn.
“We do not know which silver eels [maduras] They manage to return to the Sargasso Sea, but The more they have to travel, the less they will achieve. “Leaving some eels at the eastern European edge of their range is not really conservation,” he said. “Repopulation can be used as emergency measurebut it should be added to real conservation measures, such as the restoration of wetlands and rivers.”
Author Charles Foster, who has written about the plight of the eel, told the Guardian also that “the export of critically endangered species to an unknown destination cannot be justified in any way on the basis of tradition, economics or in any other way”.
Between 50 and 100 million glass eels arrive in the Severn each year. Scientists calculate that 40% of adult silver eels must return to the river and sea to guarantee the recovery of the world population. Currently, only 2.3% of this escape occurs.
According to the government, eel export requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and lat the sole request of Wood’s company in 2024 it met the requirements of UK wildlife trade regulations. It was determined that the eels had been caught legally and sustainably and it was not considered that there were conservation factors that justified the rejection of the application.
A spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Defra) said: “We have strong rules and laws in place to safeguard protected species such as elvers. UK CITES authorities thoroughly examine all export applications to ensure they are legal and sustainable. “All reports of illegal wildlife trafficking are taken very seriously and will be investigated by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Border Force officials.”
