European eel smuggling reaches billion-euro scale

The European eel has become a highly lucrative target for illegal wildlife trafficking, with prices for young eels reaching up to 9,000 euros per kilogram. This black market trade is estimated to be worth over one billion euros, placing the species at the center of one of the world’s most profitable smuggling industries.

To protect the critically endangered species, which has seen a population decline of approximately 95 percent since the 1980s, authorities have implemented a regional fishing ban in the Basque Country. However, local fishermen argue that these regulations unfairly penalize law-abiding citizens while criminal networks continue to profit from illegal catches.

Environmentalists support the ban due to threats such as pollution and climate change. Meanwhile, marine biologists, including Estibaliz Diaz from the AZTI oceanographic research institute, emphasize the need for long-term solutions. These include addressing obstacles like hydroelectric dams that sever migration routes and kill eels in turbines. The species' survival is further complicated by its complex life cycle, involving migrations of thousands of kilometers from European rivers to the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic.