The new limitations on fishing periods have been strongly felt in the maritime zone in the UGAs located in the north of the Bay of Biscay and in the English Channel. For the next season, they will be further tightened, and the closed seasons must cover the main migration periods for this fry, as required by the European Commission. By way of derogation, 30 fishing days are authorised to cover the consumption and restocking quotas, and a further 50 days to cover the restocking quota alone. The already severe constraints on the European glass eel market, the control of the fishery by the eel farming industry in Europe, and the very limited fishing time allowed for a fishing activity that is highly dependent on hydro-climatic conditions will have a major impact on the socio-economy of this activity and on that of a large proportion of small-scale coastal and estuarine fishing on the Atlantic coast.

The tables below provide an overview of the 2023-2024 fishing season for both marine and inland fisheries. A number of observations can already be made.

The inland fishery has not been subject to any time constraints and almost all of the quotas allocated to it for consumption and restocking have been caught. Although the total quota available is lower for the inland fishery, the results over several years show that this percentage of the restocking quota is the highest and is very probably linked to the limitation of fishing time in the maritime sector (less competition). The marine fishery, which is heavily restricted in terms of fishing time in the north, has a much lower percentage of its quota used for restocking than the river fishery, which is unusual.