The European Eel (Anguilla Anguilla) in France: An Example of Close Cooperation among Researchers and Fishers to Study and Manage an Endangered Species

摘要

The European eel (Anguilla Anguilla) was a very valuable species for the economy of small scale fisheries in France either in marine or in inland waters. At the beginning of the 21~(st) century the species was the third in value of all the species caught in the Bay of Biscay despite a strong reduction in abundance since the middle of the 20th century and especially since the seventies. Right now, there is a sharp decline of the economic value of that fishery due to some constraining fishing regulations and due to the export ban of eel outside Europe.