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To: maceng2 who wrote (453)	10/1/2003 7:50:07 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

Scientists warn future looks bleak for eels ananova.com [as a kid I used to turn over rocks at low tide and catch eels. Tourists used to come down and watch me do this... I used to do it for fun and also feed my cat, the tourists were just a pain. However, I developed a method for catching them where I would allow them to swim out into a shallow stream and chase them through the water, yet still catch them. I was always amazed by eels though.. very smart and tough animals. circa 1960's...pb] Researchers are warning that eels could be facing extinction. A meeting of the International council for Exploration of the Seas in Tallinn, Estonia was told European populations currently stand at just 1% of levels recorded in 1980. New Scientist reports delegates were told American eels are thought to be faring little better. Eels have always fascinated biologists, because it is not known exactly where they breed. Both European and North American eels migrate to an unknown spot in the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die. A common ancestor of modern eels started doing this millions of years ago when the Atlantic was a narrow strait. As movements in the Earth's crust pulled the two continents apart, the trip became ever longer and the eel split into two species. In river estuaries, eel larvae become tiny, transparent 'glass' eels. They then change into yellow elvers as they head upriver, maturing as silvery adults decades later. But for many, damming of rivers has made that journey impossible. Glass eels are also being sold as a delicacy, or passed to eel farmers in China and Japan. No-one had succeeded in breeding eels in captivity, so wild eels are the only source. Willem Dekker, of the Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research in Ijmuiden, told New Scientist that other factors are also taking their toll. He said: "We warned governments in 1997 that they had to control the fishery. They did absolutely nothing. If they act now, there may still be a chance. If not, we will lose the eel."