Assisted migrations are attempts by humans to preserve the presence of an endangered species in specific ecosystems. The European Eel – Anguilla anguilla – has been listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered. Possible reasons for decline in numbers include overfishing, barriers to migration (waterpower), changes in the ocean currents and pollution.
As many of the causes are considered too difficult to tackle, assisted migration has become the main conservation method. Every spring vast quantities of glass eel are being fished at river estuaries in England and France and exported to countries such as Finland where they are released into a number of waterways – sometimes without a possible route for outward migration. Mature eels are also captured and driven out to sea to allow for the final migration out to the Sargasso Sea.
work in progress