The Second Workshop on Designing an Eel Data Call 2 (WKEELDATA2)

The second Workshop on Designing an Eel Data Call (WKEELDATA2), chaired by Cedric Briand (France) and Jan-Dag Pohlmann (Germany), met in Rennes, France from 18 March–22 March 2019 to design a data call to all countries having natural production of European eel. Eight scientists representing five countries participated in this meeting.

The life cycle of the European eel is complex, with a unique spawning area in the Sargasso Sea and growth areas widely distributed across Europe and Northern Africa. The stock is genetically panmictic, but the continental eel stock shows strong local and regional differences in population dynamics and local stock structures (sex ratio, length and age distributions). Local impacts by fisheries with various gears may vary from almost nil to heavy exploitation. Other forms of anthropogenic mortality (e.g. hydropower, pumping stations) have an impact on eel too, and vary in distribution and local relevance. Data on stock and impacts are reported to the Working Group on Eels (WGEEL), which generates the advice. Data correspond to several different life stages, from juveniles to prespawning eels, in different habitats (from freshwater to saltwater environments).

To collect more efficiently those data, ICES and GFCM have started a process of data call in 2017. The ICES Workshop on Designing an Eel Data Call (WKEELDATA) defined the main step of this process, generated the first version of the data call and improved the WGEEL database to host the collected data. During the 2017 meeting of the WGEEL, the first data were collected and integrated into the WGEEL database. In 2018, a workshop on Tools for Eel (WKTEEL) improved the integration and use of the collected data. During this workshop the database was improved further, data call spreadsheets were adapted, enhanced and automated tools for extracting and visualizing data from the PostgreSQL database were developed.

This working group has further prepared for the next data call, by extracting data from the da-tabase to send back to national correspondents, by developing tools to enable access to the database to the working group through a local raspberry server, and by designing the data call sheets, database, integration tools and visualization for new types of data (Yellow eel standing stock series and silver eel series).