General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean - GFCM

European eel in the Mediterranean Sea - Outcomes of the GFCM Research programme

This publication was prepared in the context of the GFCM Research programme on European eel funded by the European Union. It reports the results of the work, which was carried out as a concerted action by project partners (research institutes, universities and the relevant administrations of the nine participating countries) under the overall coordination of the GFCM Secretariat.

The publication consists of an introduction, 16 chapters and a conclusion. The introduction presents the general background and structure of the GFCM research programme. Chapters 1 through 8 present results related to European eel habitat, recruitment and stocks in the Mediterranean. Chapters 9 through 12 cover results related to the analysis of European eel exploitation in the Mediterranean. Chapters 13 and 14 offer a review and analysis of the management measures and frameworks in place in the Mediterranean and an assessment of alternative existing or potential measures under different management scenarios. Analyses of monitoring frameworks in place for European eel in the partner countries are given in Chapter 15, while the results of the revision of GFCM Data Collection Reference Framework (DCRF) Task VII Eel are presented in Chapter 16. The conclusion chapter summarizes the the research programme’s main outcomes towards identifying possible management scenarios in the Mediterranean Sea according to the best data available. 

CHAPTER 1 

CHAPTER 2 

  • Additional results Part I – Current and lost wetted areas (ha) of European eel habitats by typology (cumulative and by country), total number of sites surveyed and percentage of sites for which data were not available
  • Additional results Part II – Current and lost wetted areas (ha) of eel habitats by partner country (cumulative and by habitat typology), total number of sites surveyed, and percentage of sites for which data were not available 

CHAPTER 3 

  • Additional results Part III Relative contributions of sites of each habitat type to total sites providing data, by partner country and trophic status based on chlorophyll-a, total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentrations 

CHAPTER 4 

  • Additional results Part IV - Final scores and reliability levels of variables relative to European eel habitats by partner country and habitat type 

CHAPTER 8 

  • Supplementary material on the methodology Part III – European eel quality classes, reference values and boundary values of the quality classes for a series of heavy metals, congeners and organochlorine pesticides 
  • Additional results Part V – European eel quality classes based on Anguillicola crassus infestation by partner country site 
  • Additional results Part VI – List of protozoan and metazoan parasites of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in countries based on data from the Work Package 3 database on European eel habitats and relevant literature
  • Additional results Part VII – European eel quality classes based on the highly pathogenic EVEX and AngHV-1 viruses by partner country site  
  • Additional results Part VIII – European eel quality classes based on EQIDIS (eel quality index for diseases; ICES, 2016) by partner country side
  • Additional results Part IX – European eel quality classes based on EQICONT (eel quality index for contaminants; ICES, 2016) by partner country site  
  • Additional results Part X – European eel quality classes based on EQITOT (total eel quality index; ICES, 2016) by partner country site  

CHAPTER 9 

CHAPTER 11 

  • Additional results Part XI – List of georeferenced fishing sites, target eel stages and fishing gear types used by fisheries
  • Additional results Part XII – Annual total European eel landings (all stages) by habitat type and partner country
  • Additional results Part XIII – List of georeferenced sites for which time series have been used for the analysis of production (kg/ha), including first and last years of landings data available and missing years 

CHAPTER 13 

  • Supplementary material on the methodology Part VI – First questionnaire to identify European eel management measures established by partner countries at the national or regional level or as part of their eel management plans
  • Supplementary material on the methodology Part VII – Second questionnaire to identify European eel management measures established by partner countries at the national or regional level or as part of their eel management plans
  • Additional results Part XIV – Measures for commercial and recreational eel fisheries in place in lakes at the national and local (eel management unit, administrative region) levels, by partner country  
  • Additional results Part XV – Measures for commercial and recreational eel fisheries in place in lagoons at the national and local (eel management unit, administrative region) levels, by partner country  
  • Additional results Part XVI – Measures for commercial and recreational eel fisheries in place in coastal marine waters at the national and local (eel management unit, administrative region) levels, by partner country  
  • Additional results Part XVII– Measures for commercial and recreational eel fisheries in place in rivers and estuaries at the national and local (eel management unit, administrative region) levels, by partner country   

CHAPTER 15 

CHAPTER 16