Netherlands has put a two-month moratorium on eel fishing starting from October 1 till November 30. This makes Dutch professional fishermen publicly predict their soon demise. It is said that the European Union has set a goal of a 40 per cent escapement, and the member states were two years ago asked to submit national recovery plans to that end to the Commission by January 1 this year. The Dutch plan included a two-year ban, which was scrapped, and then reinstated after the Commission had found the plan insufficient.
It is explained that the Dutch government would make available 700,000 Euros a year to compensate 240 fishing businesses affected by the ban, but the Fisherman’s Association said it would still “obliterate family businesses that have earned a living from fishing for many generations”.
Dutch Agriculture and Environment Minister Gerda Verburg remarked when announcing the ban that it is also in the interests of the industry that the eel population is allowed to recover. Commenting on initiative WWF said that eels are just as much at threat of extinction as the mountain gorilla, the tiger or the panda. It further said that to eat eel on bread is like eating a panda sandwich. The population of adult eels has dropped by 95 percent in the Netherlands in 50 years.
