Why this reminder is necessary
In recent weeks, the AFPMAR (Association Française pour la Promotion de la marque Anguille Responsable – French Association for the Promotion of Responsible Eel Brand) has come under severe attack on social networking sites: a member of the SEG (Sustainable Eel Group) board has not hesitated to qualify the standard of the collective brand recognised by the official structures of the French fishing industry as a hoax.
At the same time, the SEG (Sustainable Eel Group) presents its standard as the ‘only reliable reference for the responsible management of the European eel stock’ and claims as ‘one of its most significant achievements’ the reduction of pressure on the European eel stock.
In order to avoid any useless polemics, AFPMAR prefers to recall a certain number of historical milestones and highlight the considerable efforts of the professional eel fishing sector, which the SEG generally only mentions in regard to reducing the illegal market.
Foreword
It is important to remember that European eel are managed under EU Regulation 1100/2007, which was confirmed by the European Parliament in November 2023 (Van-Ruyssen report) as ‘the best existing tool for managing and restoring the eel stock’.
It should also be remembered that representatives of the French glass eel fishing industry have always fought against illegal fishing and sales. Various representatives, such as Louis Vilaine, Jacqueline Rabic, Jacques Lespine and Dominique Mahaut, have been very resolute in their opposition to these practices, and the period from 1990 to 2017 was not characterised by ‘bad practices, a situation of irresponsibility and a climate of illegality’ as the SEG claims. The Management Committees for Migratory Fish were forums for exchanges between stakeholders that enabled responsible management. The ban on exports outside the range requested by the EU from 2010 onwards has unfortunately only made the already well-known illegal trade worse.
Some relevant historical landmarks
From 2004 to 2008, at the initiative of the French side, a major research and management programme was set up entitled ‘Abundance and colonisation of the European eel in the central part of its range’. This programme, partly subsidised by European funds, was coordinated by IFREMER and greatly increased our knowledge of the European eel from the south of the British Isles to the north of Portugal. It brought together not only specialists from the 4 countries concerned working on the species, but also managers, associations and professional fishermen to exchange their academic and traditional knowledge. A methodological guide was published in three languages: French, Spanish and English. Within this framework, the factors involved in the mortality of glass eels after fishing were studied.
In 2009, at the initiative of French fishermen and in collaboration with international bodies such as the NASF (North Atlantic Salmon Fund), the ICSF (International Committee for Small Scale Fishery), and representatives of Spanish, Icelandic, Greenlandic, Faroese and Dutch professional fishing, the ‘Rencontres Internationales de la Petite Pêche Maritime et Continentale’ was organised in Biarritz. The concept of responsible fishing promoted by A. Bogasson was defined. This concept was adopted by the French coastal, estuarine and continental fisheries, given the impossibility of converging on a fishing activity whose sustainability is no longer solely the responsibility of fishing, but also of the efforts of other uses to minimise their impact on aquatic environments. AFPMAR’s term ‘responsible’ is a direct result of this thinking.
In 2010, France proposed its eel management plan, which was validated by the European Commission. Within this framework, glass eel fishing, the effort of which was already closely controlled by the introduction of a licensing system, is regulated by the definition of a quota that must comply with the reduction in fishing mortality called for by EU regulation 1100/2007: a 50% reduction compared with the 2004-2008 period. This quota is defined by a scientific committee independent of the fishing industry and discussed with the fishing sector within the socio-economic committee. At present, the objective has been achieved and has nothing to do with the implementation of any standards, but only with the restrictions defined in the French eel management plan. In accordance with the distribution key imposed by the EU, this quota is then divided into a consumption sub-quota (40% of the overall quota) and a restocking sub-quota (60% of the overall quota). While certain structures in the European eel industry consider the French quota to be oversized in relation to the market (particularly the restocking market), the reduction in the overall quota would automatically lead to a reduction in the consumption quota, the only really buoyant economic niche for the French glass eel fishery. The fishing industry will no longer be able to adapt to such a unprofitable restocking market.
ARA France (Association pour le Repeuplement de l’Anguille en France) was also set up in 2010 to coordinate eel restocking in France. From 2011 to the present day, this association has been coordinating studies with research and expert bodies including the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle and the OFB (Office Français de la Biodiversité) to measure the effects of restocking on the eel population. These results have been summarised in a report that positions this structure as a key component of the French management plan. AFPMAR is a member of ARA France.
In 2011, the French maritime and inland fishing organisations, in association with the WWF France and the support of scientists, produced a guide to good practice for glass eel fishing and restocking in order to minimise glass eel post-fishing mortality, which varies widely depending on the gear used and fishing practices ( duration of the haul, fishing speed, sieve mesh size). This guide is based on data collected as part of the INDICANG project and summarised in a charter of good practices that all owners of a glass eel licence must sign. This charter of good practices forms the basis of the AFPMAR standard, which is founded on academic and traditional knowledge. The current version of the guide was published in 2012, and the SEG have used it as the basis for their own standard.
In 2023, the AFPMAR was created and the board was completely reorganised in 2024 in order to better defend the French fishing sector against attacks from numerous NGOs and to show the importance of preserving the eel fishing sector, which is the only one to have achieved the objectives defined by EU regulation 1100/2007. A socio-economic analysis shows that, despite its efforts, the eel fishing industry is suffering a very sharp loss of its social and economic weight in France, but also in Europe.
There are currently 250 fishing companies affiliated to this collective brand, which guarantees the legality, quality and traceability of the harvested products. It is an individual membership for fishing companies and not a collective membership for a fishery based on the expertise of a few fishing units (as is the case with SEG certification).
This is the strength of the brand and its legitimacy.
And now
Our members have been reporting abundant glass eel runs in all estuaries in recent years. In the last two years, the observed glass eel weight was high (between 1,800 and 2,000 individuals per kg). This has never been seen in the last 40 years. AFPMAR, and ARA France, are working with scientists to find out more about these changes.
The future could be brighter, but unfortunately many NGOs are lashing out against small-scale fishing and calling for its closure. Before his departure, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries asked that the procedure for listing eels in Appendix 1 of CITES be initiated, which would put an end to the eel industry in Europe, unless political agreements are found.
AFPMAR is open to all discussions for the benefit of the eel industry in Europe, but will never accept the fisheries sector being dominated by the farming sector. It is time to put an end to these sterile battles for the sole benefit of some. The so-called ‘Brandenburg tender’ affair, in which AFPMAR did not intervene as a certain person claims, shows that public funds cannot be appropriated by imposing a standard of any kind or precise conditions that point towards one structure, thus preventing free market competition.
In addition, it is important for some people to understand that the glass eel caught in France is not the property of a dominant group of the farming industry. This resource must be exploited in the best interests of each link in the system, first and foremost those of producers and the smooth running of restocking programmes.
The study of the glass eel restocking market in France shows that when there is no competition on a call for tenders, it is to the detriment of the producers and not the purchaser. In the case of French restocking, where all SEG and non-SEG wholesalers are called upon to participate in the restocking plan, prices are much higher than those in other European countries, particularly for tenders where the SEG label is unduly required.
Our proposals
- To organise a forum for the eel industry in Europe. Only those involved in the European eel industry (fishing, farming, marketing) are in a position to do this, and together we can fight the lobbies that want to see the end of the eel industry in Europe. Without fishing, there is no future;
- To require an assessment of the management plans, which has never been done by the European Commission, which has technocratically imposed its views in total disagreement with the European Parliament;
- To organise the glass eel market in Europe according to the principle: ‘Fish less and add value better’. At present, the situation of small-scale estuarine and continental fishing is critical, and if there is no recovery in turnover, some structures will no longer be able to function. The restocking market is not sufficiently remunerative and the production of more and more small eels for restocking is leading to a supply that far exceeds demand and existing funding, which should automatically have led to a change in the distribution key (article 7 of regulation 1100/2007).
The situation is critical, but not desperate. Together we will get there, but not to the detriment of one or other of the parties.
Without fishing, environmental monitoring and the knowledge and know-how needed to manage our aquatic ecosystems and the fish stocks they support will not be possible.
The AFPMAR is there to remind us of this, in partnership with the official structures of fishing in France and with ARA France.