The eels of New Zealand have been commercially fished since the 1960s. They are caught in traps, a technique that catches more than 90 per cent of all eels in a stretch of stream. After the eels were drafted into the Quota Management System (QMS), the catches have declined. Eels are New Zealand’s icon and ther are often very old – shortfins can live for up to 60 years and many large longfins are over 100 years old, although there are few of these left as they have been mostly been fished out.
Commercial fishing selectively fished out larger females which live longer and grow more slowly. Now there are relatively few of then left, which has dire repercussions when it comes to breeding time. Eels have been subject to severe impacts since human colonisation of New Zealand started.
It is said that destruction of wetlands, abstraction of water from streams, pollution and sedimentation have affected native eels. It is fact that eels are under threat from habitat loss, just like so many others in our New Zealand refuge. But instead of protecting them and investing huge amounts of time and effort into predator control eels are being systematically exterminated for profit.
