Sustainable Eel Group
SEG
The Sustainable Eel Group was formed to take action to support the recovery of the European Eel.
ID: 482866531502-69
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Costas Kadis (Commissioner)
15 Jul 2025 · How to accelerate recovery of the European Eel
Meeting with Bert-Jan Ruissen (Member of the European Parliament)
5 Mar 2025 · Fisheries
Meeting with Bert-Jan Ruissen (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)
19 Apr 2023 · Aalverordening
Meeting with Bert-Jan Ruissen (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)
5 Apr 2023 · Aalverordening
Response to Wildlife trafficking - EU action plan (evaluation)
3 Mar 2020
The EU Actions Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking is a very important and useful reference whenever addressing the fight against wildlife trafficking in the public.
However, we have the impression that some of the objectives have not been met and possibly have not been properly addressed, yet. The Action Plan itself is good, but we detect a lack in implementation.
Examples:
Objective 3.2
Strengthen and coordinate better action against wildlife trafficking and its root causes with relevant source, transit and market countries
Action 28. Step up dialogue with key source, transit and market countries, including dialogue with local communities, civil society and the private sector
- Involvement of the civil society and private needs to be strengthened
Objective 1.3
Increase business sector engagement in efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and encourage sustainable sourcing of wildlife products
Action 7. Support private-sector initiatives to curb the illegal wildlife trade and encourage sustainable sourcing of wildlife products in/from the EU
- At least for us, it has been very difficult to identify how we could possibly gain support for sustainable sourcing. In terms of potential funding that is linked to the Action Plan, we identify a lack of transparency.
A more detailed feedback will be provided during the upcoming public consultation process
Read full responseResponse to Evaluation of the Eel Regulation
11 May 2018
The eel stock all over Europe has declined over many decades, to just a fraction of its former abundance. The Sustainable Eel Group (SEG) therefore welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to initiate the evaluation of the Eel Regulation and related legislation.
SEG believes that the Eel Regulation is very much fit for purpose, and that the problem lies in its weak and uncoordinated implementation by Member States and the European Commission rather than in the Regulation itself.
The implementation of the Eel Regulation has suffered significant delays and it has not been properly enforced in Member States. By 2015, information in national progress reports made it clear that the agreed targets were not realised, the required protection had not been achieved and that further reduction in mortality had not been achieved. Already in 2014, the European Commission outlined the reasons underlying the poor implementation of the Regulation, which included: inconsistencies in the reporting activity of Member States; lack of information on the effectiveness of restriction of fishing and lack of data on the impact of restocking activities throughout Europe.
To illustrate this point, SEG would direct attention to the poor implementation of Article 12 on Control and Enforcement, which has been long overlooked and not appropriately enforced by Member States, for instance by failing to put in place the required traceability systems.
Given the many negative human impacts on the stock, a more holistic approach is required, one that actively involves all interested societal parties and governments at all levels – from local through regional to national and international. This holistic approach is especially important in the need to scale up efforts to combat the illegal trade which is now thought to be removing about a quarter of the total natural recruitment to the stock. In this respect, SEG would suggest a number of actions:
• Enforcement of the EU-wide traceability system, as mandated by Article 12 of the Eel Regulation;
• Scale up of European and international cooperation to track and counter illegal trafficking; and
• Introduction of an international traceability system.
The illegal trade of glass eels from Europe to Asia is seriously undermining the efforts to protect and restore the stock by physically exporting a major share of the overall stock but also by corrupting the governance and control frameworks. Therefore SEG recommends the European Commission to include a fourth pillar for the evaluation, that is data and intelligence are collected and immediately shared by Member States enforcement agencies and Europol on the scale of illegal trade and its impact on the decline of the eel stock. In addition, it is equally important that evaluation data is sought from the Habitats Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to the Water Framework Directive.
Considering the active involvement of many such parties in the ten past years, since the adoption of the Eel Regulation, SEG notes that successful protection for the eel does not come by itself – a dedicated coordination and orchestration is required for which a management body might be required which would assist the European Commission with scientific, conservation and industry expertise.
In conclusion, SEG considers that the solution to the current eel crisis does not just come from renewing existing regulatory requirements and making fresh promises for a more complete implementation but will stem from a structural change in leadership, management and governance both at the EU and global levels.
Read full response