First Range States Workshop on the European Eel
The Sargasso Sea Commission partnered with the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) to co-sponsor a workshop in Galway, Ireland from 13-14 October 2016. This meeting provided an opportunity for representatives of the ten range states and the EU, members of the Secretariats, and international eel experts to review the European eel's conservation and management.
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) can be found anywhere from northern Norway to North Africa and the Mediterranean. These fish migrate to their spawning site in the Sargasso Sea in the late winter and early spring, before returning to continental waters. According to IUCN's Red List, their migrations "are the longest and most oceanographically complex" of the eel species.
Copyright: David CurnickInternational cooperation surrounding the conservation of the European eel has occurred. In 2007, the European Union adopted legislation which prompted all member states to develop Eel Management Plans. At this workshop, participants discussed whether any additional mechanisms for international cooperation would be useful.
The workshop opened with an address by the Executive Secretary of each Secretariat. The subsequent sessions reviewed the state of European eel stock, known threats, and existing regulations, and discussed potential cooperative agreements through the CMS in breakout sessions. The potential benefits of this type of agreement are that nations can be part of the agreement without being a signatory to the CMS, and that the authority of this CMS agreement could be broadly applied to extend to the American eel species as well, providing better protection to both species. 
Workshop Materials
Final Report
SSC Briefing Note
