Synergistic patterns of threat and the challenges facing global anguillid eel conservation

By D. Jacoby, J. Casselman, V. Crook, M. Delucia, Hyojin Ahn, K. Kaifu, Tagried Kurwie, P. Sasal, A. Silfvergrip, Kevin G. Smith and 3 more. 2015

244 citations recorded by the source corpus.

With broad distributions, diadromous fishes can be exposed to multiple threats at different stages of development. For the primarily catadromous eels of the family Anguillidae, there is growing international concern for the population abundance and escapement trends of some of these species and yet incomplete knowledge of their remarkable life-histories hampers management and conservation. Anguillids experience a suite of pressures that include habitat loss/modification, migration barriers, pollution, parasitism, exploitation, and fluctuating oceanic conditions that likely have synergistic and regionally variable impacts, even within species. In beginning to redress this rather fragmented picture, we evaluated the extinction risk of these species using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria to infer population-wide trends from catch and monitoring data. Here we consolidate and build upon these species assessments by presenting an overview of the current state of global eel data and conservation, categorising the knowledge gaps and geographic regions where resources are needed and discussing future recommendations to improve our understanding of anguillids. We find stark disparity between the quality and length of data available to assess population trends and conservation priorities in temperate and tropical anguillids. Of the 13 species assessed, four were listed as ‘Threatened’ (Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered); four were Near Threatened, three were Data Deficient and two were deemed Least Concern. Comparing with other diadromous species, we examine the multiple threats that impact eels during their different life-history stages, highlighting the challenges of applying the Red List Categories and Criteria to geographically-expansive, catadromous and panmictic groups of species.

Subfields: Aquatic Science, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/48e9b27eba78cf9ed38f99c71cf8d372e2a96302

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Aquatic Science

1. Michael J. Miller
2. C. Durif
3. K. Tsukamoto
4. M. Castonguay
5. E. Rochard
6. K. Aarestrup
7. S. Dufour
8. P. Elie

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. Michael J. Miller
2. C. Durif
3. T. Pratt
4. K. Tsukamoto
5. M. Castonguay
6. E. Rochard
7. K. Aarestrup

In Physiology

1. Michael J. Miller
2. C. Durif
3. K. Tsukamoto
4. M. Castonguay
5. E. Rochard
6. T. Arai
7. S. Dufour
8. P. Elie

Citations in the corpus

• Important questions to progress science and sustainable management of anguillid eels (2021, background): “These localized management and conservation efforts are to be encouraged, but without improved engagement at the national and international level, the situation is unlikely to measurably improve due to the complex life history of eels (Jacoby et al., 2015).”
• Freshwater eels: A symbol of the effects of global change (2018, methodology): “Even though there are growing concerns about the situation of tropical eels and many similarities with temperate eels (Jacoby et al. 2015), we restricted our analysis to temperate eels of the genus Anguilla because they are in the worst situation according to IUCN criteria, and are the three most co”