Eel: ‘wrong’ fish or perfectly fine?

Toast with eel: I get the feeling that this was a very common party snack in the 1990s. Luxurious, sure, but still something that was served on many occasions. These days, I hardly come across eel at all (although that may depend on where and with whom I’m having drinks). It’s not really surprising when you consider that eel is now a critically endangered species. Can you still eat it with a clear conscience, or is eel ‘wrong’ fish?

Let’s get straight to the point: things are still not going well at all for eel populations in the Netherlands. All kinds of measures have been tried for years to boost their numbers, but so far the outlook isn’t very promising. Do you know how much less eel can be found in Dutch waters compared with the 1960s? Eel therefore remains firmly listed on the red list of endangered species.

Shocking figures

Ninety percent less! Isn’t that shocking? There are certainly initiatives aimed at ensuring that glass eels (baby eels) grow to maturity in the Netherlands and can also make their final journey back to the Sargasso Sea to mate there, but so far, they don’t seem to be helping much.

Unknown survival rate

To read about the eel’s life cycle, we recommend reading this article from FavorFlav. But to mention one comment from eel expert Martijn Schiphouwer: “It’s true that releasing glass eels somewhere benefits the local eel population. But you don’t know whether they will subsequently grow into adult eels that swim back to sea or whether they will be caught earlier. You don’t know whether they survive.”

No effect after thirteen years

Earlier this year, millions of glass eels were transported from France to the Netherlands to be released, according to NOS. The idea was to give them a helping hand, so to speak, and ensure that they would reach the Netherlands at all. But this is not a new rescue attempt; eel management has been underway since 2009, yet according to Schiphouwer, after thirteen years there is still no positive effect to be seen in the recovery of the population.

Fish-unfriendly

Schiphouwer works at knowledge centre Ravon, which focuses on reptiles, amphibians and fish. After all these years, he says he sees no indication that adult eels are swimming to sea to reproduce, as there has also been no increase in the number of glass eels subsequently swimming back to the Netherlands (hence the assistance with transporting and releasing them). He also believes that making waterways within Europe and the Netherlands more fish-friendly would truly help the eel population. The World Wildlife Fund says it is problematic that the eel population is doing so poorly because the fish plays an important role in the ecosystem.

Alternative party snacks

So unfortunately, there’s no good news if you’re hoping that enough eel will once again be swimming in our waters in the foreseeable future to make a recipe such as ratatouille with smoked eel without feeling guilty… But if you’d rather put something else on the drinks platter in the meantime, we have plenty of inspiration here. For example, try a Scandinavian drinks platter, delicious with pickled salmon.

Also read:

• Recipe for a real bistro drinks platter
• Oh no! Almost no fishmonger provides the right information about fish
• Delicious and easy recipe: congee with fish