Workshop for the Reconstruction of Eel Landings Statistics (WKLANDEEL)

The Workshop for the Reconstruction of Eel Landings Statistics (WKLANDEEL) met to provide a method to evaluate the total landings of European eel from available data. European eel landings data are assumed to be deficient, heterogeneous, incomplete, and not well documented. This workshop aimed at reviewing available data and their reliability, at identifying missing information, and at developing a modelling framework for using available data at different scales (site, eel management unit, country) to estimate total landings of European eel.

Expert judgements were sought on the level of completeness of the data already stored in the working group on eels’ database. These data were also compared to data available in the main international databases. While the data for some fisheries was found to be almost complete especially in recent years, other fisheries still lack data, particularly recreational fisheries.

An initial modelling framework, from data compilation and correction to reconstruction, has been designed and illustrated with examples of the data available to feed it.