A 4-years eel research proposal submitted to the Belgian research Programme "Science for a sustainable development

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla (L).) is a widespread species in decline and current fisheries are considered outside sustainable limits. The European Commission has proposed that the primary instrument for management of European eel should be the development by Member States of "Eel Management Plans" including putting in place monitoring actions for the EU Data Collection Regulation. A research project proposal has been submitted to the Belgian Research programme “Science for a Sustainable Development”. Partners involved are institutes and universities in Flanders and Wallonia. The project is entitled “Progressive extinction of the eel: biological basis for a national recovery plan” and has the acronym ”EELBASE”. The objective is setting the scientific base for the development of the national Eel Management Plans by developing an eel database (EELBASE), designing a Belgian eel restocking programme and collecting new data about the key factors affecting the eel stocks throughout Belgium. Field studies in selected basins will focus on ecological aspects including habitat evaluation of yellow eel, silver eel escapement and impact of turbines and pumps. Another objective is to evaluate interactions between the different environmental and physiological parameters by means of an extensive assessment of physiological traits of eels of polluted and unpolluted sites. For this, several aspects of health and condition of local pre-silver and silver eel populations will be studied (a series of physiological parameters, quality of gametes, parasitological and viral agents, …).Keywords: European eel, Anguilla anguilla, management, stocks, migration, physiology