MEP welcomes curb on trade in elvers
03 July 2007
STATEMENT BY JIM ALLISTER MEP
“Having long campaigned against the trade in elvers to Asia, because of the havoc which it is wreaking in the natural restocking cycle of the European eel, manifested in Northern Ireland by falling eel stocks in Lough Neagh, I welcome a recent decision to list the European eel as an endangered species. This has the capacity to significantly curb the massive sales to Asia.
Recently at its meeting in the Hague the Conference of Parties to the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreed to list the European eel. This is designed to ensure that the international trade in elvers is done on a sustainable basis, by requiring exporters to obtain licences to export. Moreover, licences can only be issued if the trade will not be detrimental to the species. This, if enforced, is good news for the Lough Neagh eel industry because to date the natural replenishment of stocks has been devastated by this trade to Asia, pushing elver prices sky-high and robbing Europe of its essential young eel stock.”
