C. Population Status of American Eel
The American eel is in steep decline across its range in the United States
of America. Juvenile recruitment to the St. Lawrence River system and Lake
Ontario has virtually ceased during the past decade. The number of juvenile
eels migrating into the St. Lawrence River has fallen from 935,000 individuals
in 1985 to approximately 8,000 in 1993 and to levels approaching zero in
recent years (ASMFC 2000).
Dohne (2004) states: "Lake Ontario, which had as many as 10 million
eels two decades ago, now holds only tens of thousands, according to Ontario's
Ministry of Natural Resources. The Ministry says Ontario's commercial eel
harvest peaked at more than 500,000 pounds in 1978. Last year's take was
a fraction of that, or 30,000 pounds. Ontario officials blame the eel's
plight on overharvesting, migration barriers, climate conditions and hydro-dam
turbines. Monitoring of St. Lawrence River hydro dams reveals that 46 percent
of adult eels exit the turbines dead."
The number of juvenile eels counted annually at the Conowingo Dam on the
Susquehanna River has declined from a peak of 126,543 in 1974 to nearly
zero in recent years (ASMFC 2000). At the November 18, 2002 meeting of the
ASMFC Eel Management Board, Mr. Richard Snyder, ASMFC representative for
Pennsylvania, stated: "No American eels really pass the Conowingo Fish
Lift, based on the annual samplings there lately."
U.S. harvests of American eel on the Atlantic Coast have declined 64 percent
of the long-term average since 1950; almost 44 percent below the 20-year
average; and about 30 percent below the five year average, based on 2002
harvest reports collected by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
(Geer 2004).
ASMFC (2000) states:
"Harvest pressure and habitat loss are listed as the primary causes
of any possible historic and recent decline in abundance of American eel
(Castonguay et al. 1994a and 1994b). Several factors contribute to the risk
that heavy harvest may adversely affect eel populations: (1) American eel
mature slowly, requiring 7 to 30+ years to attain sexual maturity; (2) glass
eel aggregate seasonally to migrate; (3) yellow eel harvest is cumulative
stress, over multiple years, on the same year class; and (4) all eel mortality
is pre-spawning mortality. Habitat losses have been a chronic problem since
the arrival of the Europeans. Blockage of stream access, pollution and nearshore
habitat destruction limit habitat availability for eel. Castonguay et al.
(1994b) indicated that oceanic changes may now also contribute to decline
in eel abundance. Busch et al. (1998) estimated that diadromous fish, dependent
on access to Atlantic coastal watersheds, may be hindered from reaching
up to 84 percent of upstream habitats."
On August 14, 2003, eel biologists from 18 countries meeting in Quebec,
Canada, drafted and unanimously approved a declaration titled: The Quebec
Declaration of Concern: Worldwide Decline of Eels Necessitates Immediate
Action.
This declaration was written at the 2003 International Eel Symposium, held
in conjunction with the 2003 American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting,
Quebec, Canada, 14 August, 2003. The Declaration states:
"The steep decline in populations of eels endangers the future of
these legendary fish. With less than 1 percent of major juvenile resources
remaining, precautionary efforts must be taken immediately to sustain these
stocks. In recent decades, juvenile abundance has declined dramatically;
by 99 percent for the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and by 80 percent
for the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica). Recruitment of American eel (Anguilla
rostrata) to Lake Ontario, near the species' northern limit, has virtually
ceased.
"Eels, which depend on freshwater and estuarine habitats for their
juvenile growth phase, anthropogenic impacts (e.g. pollution, habitat loss
and migration barriers, fisheries) are considerable and may well have been
instrumental in prompting these declines. Loss of eel resources will represent
a loss of biodiversity but will also have considerable impact on socioeconomics
of rural areas, where eel fishing still constitutes a cultural tradition.
Research is underway to develop a comprehensive and effective restoration
plan. This, however, will require time. The urgent concern is that the rate
of decline necessitates swifter protective measures. As scientists in eel
biology from 18 countries assembled at the International Eel Symposium 2003
organized in conjunction with the 2003 American Fisheries Society Annual
Meeting in Quebec, Canada, we unanimously agree that we must raise an urgent
alarm now. With less than 1 percent of juvenile resources remaining for
major populations, time is running out. Precautionary action (e.g., curtailing
exploitation, safeguarding migration routes and wetlands, improving access
to lost habitats) can and must be taken immediately by all parties involved
and, if necessary, independently of each other. Otherwise opportunities
to protect these species and study their biology and the cause of their
decline will fade along with the stocks."
According to official minutes of the March 29, 2004 meeting of the American
Eel Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
in Alexandria, Virginia, Mr. Patrick Geer, Technical Committee chairman
of the American Eel Management Board, stated:
"You can see, basically, they've had very little or no recruitment
for the last nearly ten years at this point [in the St. Lawrence River system].
Typically, when the eels get to this area on the St. Lawrence River, they're
five to seven years old. They're noticing in the last few years they're
getting much older than that, so they're speculating they're having a failure
of recruitment to the St. Lawrence system."
"Dr. Casselman [Dr. John Casselman of the Canada Department of Fisheries
and Ocean] also performed a trend analysis on the U.S. landings and grouped
states accordingly. He broke them up into southern states, central states
and northern states. You can see that the landings are down as well for
each one of these regions."
"The Mid-Atlantic states or the central states, as he calls it, is
basically the only, what you may consider, a healthy fishery at this point.
The northern and southern states have seen major declines."
"One of the tech members actually commented, 'It's pretty bad when
someone who doesn't live in your country has to analyze your data and tell
you what's wrong.' I think this kind of points that out."
"Bob Lang [member, Great Lakes Fisheries Commission] also went on
to encourage the Great Lakes basin states and provinces that have jurisdiction
over activities that kill eels, either by direct fishing mortality or through
hydroelectric dams -- they're passing through the turbines -- to restrict
such activities to the maximum extent practicable."
"U.S. landings on the Atlantic Coast are down about 64 percent of
the long-term average back to 1950, almost 44 percent below the 20-year
average and about 30 percent below the five year average. This is from 2002
landings reports."
At the same March 29, 2004 meeting of the American Eel Management Board
of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Mr. Gordon Colvin,
the New York representative to the ASMFC, stated:
"I believe it would be appropriate for the board, and frankly, for
the Commission to express support to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
and to the NMFS to undertake a review to consider and evaluate the appropriateness
of listing at least the Distinct Population Segment in the Great Lakes/St.
Lawrence/Lake Champlain/Richelieu River drainages for listing under the
US ESA, just as Canada is undertaking with respect to SARA.
"I would even go so far as to suggest that in the process of that
review, that the services consider a broader look at eel resources in the
United States, particularly in light of the fact that if the hypothesis
suggested by Dr. John Casselman and others, that a very substantial proportion
of large female eels that constitute perhaps as much as the majority or
the bulk of the female spawners for this panmictic population are vulnerable
to recruitment failure in the St. Lawrence system, that all of our resources
may be at risk as a result of that, and it's only a matter of time, if we're
not already there.
"As has been indicated, that [St. Lawrence] population segment of
eels is absolutely in recruitment failure. There has essentially been no
recruitment for a decade, but there are still eels in the system. There
are many year classes of adult eels in the system.
"They are subject to mortality, particularly as they out-migrate thought
the hydroelectric dams on the St. Lawrence River and through commercial
intercept fisheries further down the river, mainly in Quebec."
"Therefore there is some necessity, I think, perceived by the Canadian
fisheries authorities to address these sources of mortality in that those
out-migrating females may be all that they have left, given that there's
ten missing year classes or so in the system now, and they want to maintain
what they can get. Those eels are important to us, because they may well
be, to put it simply, the mothers of most of our eels, too."
At the same March 29, 2004 meeting of the American Eel Management Board
of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Mr. Lewis Flagg, the
Maine representative of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,
stated:
"It seems to me that from the Technical Committee's presentation,
that there is a pretty serious resource problem out there, not just for
Canada but for the states also, so since the commission does have an American
Eel Management Plan, I think it does demand our attention."
At the same March 29, 2004 meeting of the American Eel Management Board
of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Mr. Eric Smith, the
Connecticut representative of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,
stated:
"I just want to see that the issue doesn't languish until such time
as five years from now, we say, okay, now we've got some landings [data]
and can deal with it. This thing has been troubling for some time now that
you look at the slides."
On March 10, 2004 the American Eel Management Board of the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) issued a press release recommending
the protection of American eel under the United States Endangered Species
Act. The statement reads in part:
"Canadian and US data show 2003 commercial landings are the lowest
on record since 1945 and there are indications of localized recruitment
failure in the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River system. The International
Eel Symposium at the 2003 American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting reported
a worldwide decline of eel populations, including the Atlantic coast stock
of American eel ... The Commission also recommended that the US Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
consider American eel in the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River/Lake Champlain/Richelieu
River system as a candidate for listing as a Distinct Population Segment
under the Endangered Species Act. The Board also recommended that the USFWS
and NMFS consider designating the entire coastwide stock as a candidate
for listing under the ESA."
Despite this declaration in March 2004, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission has failed to reduce or prohibit the ongoing harvest of American
eel from the waters of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States of America.
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