Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) plans to crack down on illegal fishing for small eels in coastal areas next year by establishing separate possession and export licences to track catches from rivers to airports.
The action comes on the back of a surge in Canadian eel exports, reaching an all-time high of 43 tonnes in 2022, four times Canada's total authorized allowable catch, according to the latest report** data. American eels are considered an endangered species in Canada, but authorized sea fishing is referred to as sustainable fishing.
Fishermen can be seen catching small eels in the river at night using nets and flashlights. The company that installed the camera to capture the footage said the activity was unauthorized.
Sometimes referred to as the glass eel, this tiny, translucent eel is Canada's most prized seafood by weight, selling for up to $5,000 per kilogram.
Almost all eels are shipped to China, where they are raised in aquaculture facilities for food. Hiromi Shiraishi, a researcher at the University of Tokyo, said Canada's exports were part of an "exceptional" increase in U.S. eel exports to fill the vacuum created by restrictions imposed on European eels due to their declining populations.
The researcher said it was historic, and she co-authored a recent article published in the journal Ocean Policy that used customs data to track live American eels destined for East Asia. Imports from the Americas increased from 2 tonnes in 2004 to 157 tonnes in 2022. "It's historic".
In Tokyo, Shiraishi told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that "a sudden increase in mining could lead to a further reduction in resources". Shipments in Canada increased from 167 tonnes increased to 31 tonnes in 2019, 19 tonnes in 2020 and 19 tonnes in 2021.
Licensee says data is worrying, says Stanley King, a commercial license holder for Atlantic eel fisheries in Nova Scotia, is worrying if the data is accurate.
It must have contained a large number of illegally caught eels, the exact amount of which is unknown. It also highlights a different issue, which is the relabeling of Caribbean fish as Canadian. For several years now, we have been asking the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans to solve this problem for us."
This year, the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans was forced to close the authorized fishery due to threats and violence caused by poachers crossing the rivers at sea. The closure order did not stop poaching. It is estimated that illegal fishing in 2023 ranges from a few tonnes to more than 20 tonnes. The actual number is not yet known.
The Fisheries and Oceans Agency wants to introduce new regulations by March 2024 To avoid a repeat of the chaos and curb illegality**, Fisheries and Oceans Canada wants to develop new regulations in March 2024, before the spring eel migration and fishing season.
According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans**, the new licence conditions could stipulate when and where eels could be owned, and the records would be disclosed to the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries. Export licence conditions may include a requirement to notify the Department of Fisheries and Oceans when the eel container is packaged for export, and to allow ** verification of the contents of the exported eel.
Current eel license holders are required to have an export license to ship eels out of Canada. "These new permits proposed by the Fisheries and Oceans Agency will allow legal fishers to remain legal, but unfortunately, illegal fishers don't care if they have a permit, so they will continue to fish illegally," Kim said. "We believe that a lot of illegally caught eels are shipped out as lobsters." He said there was a need for "on-the-ground enforcement."