A few days ago, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge he took to the Wild Flora and Fauna Committee the proposal to include the European eel as “in danger of extinction” in the Spanish Catalog of Endangered Species.
That, in practice, means prohibiting fishing and marketing. Also that of the eel, its juvenile phase. As expected, the world championship has been messed up.
And not because there is debate on the topic. For many years, scientists They are clear that the eel is on the limit. In fact, there are many communities that already prohibit fishing (some for more than a decade). And yet most of it fell this Tuesday the proposal.
Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Murcia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, where the species is exploited, have voted against. Others such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja, Extremadura, Aragón, Castilla y León, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia have abstained. It is the third failed attempt after those in 2020 and 2024.
This has many readings, but the most obvious is simple: as Miguel Clavero says“Spain will continue fishing for eels until they become extinct.”
It is also the most realistic. Because yes, a working group has been created between the Ministry and the CCAA to share data and discuss measures; but experts assume that it is just a way to save time. The thing is, it’s time we don’t have.
And why isn’t eel fishing prohibited? The economic context is also simple: this fish moves little volume, but a lot of value. This is a premium product that generates a lot of money. For this reason, the sector is only willing to accept temporary moratoriums (such as this year in Euskadi), despite the fact that since the 60s the population has fallen by more than 90%.
A problem that is also European. And that’s the other part of the problem, of course: lgovernance is fragmentedthe decline It is multifactorial (fishing, yes; but also river barriers, pollution, loss of habitats…) and the ‘revival’ of anti-scientific discourses when they touch the pocket.
And without meaning to, that is what has turned this issue into a central issue for the entire European continent. After all, the extinction of the European eel is the chronicle of a death foretold. But also a portrait of our helplessness, of our inability to conserve what is valuable in our rivers.
It is a portrait of ourselves.
Image | Phil Robston
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