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The European eel - Anguilla anguilla - is a very important species of fish. Eel fishing generates around 200 million euros per year and employs over 25 000 people in 15 European countries.
Eel catches have dropped by half: from 40 000 tons over the last 30 years to under 20 000 tons today. The causes of this decline remain unknown. It is therefore necessary to improve knowledge about the species' biology and environment to help preserve and regenerate the stock of European eels.
This is the aim of the EELIAD project (European Eels in the Atlantic: Assessment of their Decline) : a scientific research programme whose aim is to try to solve some of the mysteries surrounding the biology of the European eel, especially during its marine phases. The information obtained will help preserve stocks.
The knowledge created by the EELIAD research programme in addition to the resulting scientific publications will be directly usable for the development of the eel stock management and rehabilitation plan.
The town of Biarritz (France) hosted the annual meeting of the EELIAD programme on 13,14 and 15 April.
Although the EELIAD programme will finish in 2012, the Biarritz seminar has enabled the first results from this study to be revealed.
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