Thanksgiving Eels

turkeys are able to be farmed commercially in huge numbers. Eels cannot. They breed just once in their life and die after spawning. The rate of maturity is slow (in NZ long-finned eels some females don't breed until they are over a century old!). Every single eel caught and killed is an eel that has never bred. Because of their life-cycle they can't really be bred artificially (it has been done experimentally, in NZ and probably elsewhere, but it can't be done on the scale that would be needed to be commercial in any way), and they are caught in their largest numbers during the breeding migrations (when the eels are heading downstream en masse to the ocean). In Europe and Japan the native eels have been almost wiped out through over-fishing (and to a lesser degree other causes like pollution etc). One of the statistics I read a little while ago was that the numbers of glass eels returning from the ocean to Europe is only 1% of what it used to be. Most of the eel seen for sale in Europe and Japan is, apparently, NZ eel which is exported by the tonne. NZ eels aren't endangered yet but they are getting very close. As I understand it American eels are likewise very much on the chopping block.


So, all in all, I say no to Thanksgiving eel.
 
Chlidonias said:
turkeys are able to be farmed commercially in huge numbers. Eels cannot. They breed just once in their life and die after spawning. The rate of maturity is slow (in NZ long-finned eels some females don't breed until they are over a century old!). Every single eel caught and killed is an eel that has never bred. Because of their life-cycle they can't really be bred artificially (it has been done experimentally, in NZ and probably elsewhere, but it can't be done on the scale that would be needed to be commercial in any way), and they are caught in their largest numbers during the breeding migrations (when the eels are heading downstream en masse to the ocean). In Europe and Japan the native eels have been almost wiped out through over-fishing (and to a lesser degree other causes like pollution etc). One of the statistics I read a little while ago was that the numbers of glass eels returning from the ocean to Europe is only 1% of what it used to be. Most of the eel seen for sale in Europe and Japan is, apparently, NZ eel which is exported by the tonne. NZ eels aren't endangered yet but they are getting very close. As I understand it American eels are likewise very much on the chopping block.


So, all in all, I say no to Thanksgiving eel.
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The eel book author guy in the movie argues that there should be sustainable eel fishing in North America, but from what you are saying Childonias it sounds like that would not work.
 
creating a sustainable fishery would have benefits in terms of better protection for habitat etc, but personally I can't see how you can sustainably harvest something where every single individual taken has never reproduced before. It doesn't make sense.
 
Chlidonias said:
creating a sustainable fishery would have benefits in terms of better protection for habitat etc, but personally I can't see how you can sustainably harvest something where every single individual taken has never reproduced before. It doesn't make sense.
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Many are eaten by predators, and we are another. As long as the spawning rate and survival rate are high enough and enough survive to breed it can be sustainable. I believe there is some aquaculture where the newly hatched eels returning to the rivers are caught and raised for consumption. There is actually a rice farm near me who will be stocking his crops with small eels to grow them out this summer.
 
Monty said:
Many are eaten by predators, and we are another. As long as the spawning rate and survival rate are high enough and enough survive to breed it can be sustainable. I believe there is some aquaculture where the newly hatched eels returning to the rivers are caught and raised for consumption. There is actually a rice farm near me who will be stocking his crops with small eels to grow them out this summer.
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but if they are being harvested commercially by humans then that is in excess of the base survival rate. Natural predators take from their immediate habitat; modern humans take to supply globally or nationally, i.e. the numbers taken are far in excess of what would be taken by local subsistence communities. You cannot possibly pretend that modern human commerce is the equivalent of natural predation.

The result is that each generation of eels is depleted from the one before because there are fewer eels able to grow up to reproduce because more are being removed from the population each year than natural rhythms allow for. That isn't sustainability, its a slow death.

Sustainability in fisheries is often a euphemism for "that's a problem for the next generation while I make my money now".
 
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