Eels are becoming increasingly popular in non-traditional consumer markets, but overall production and consumption are probably declining, finds a new study that for the first time combines all the publically available data on the eel trade in East Asia.
According to the report, “Eel market dynamics: an analysis of Anguilla production, trade and consumption in East Asia,” published by NGO group Traffic, eel production and consumption patterns in East Asia are constantly changing, with new markets and trade routes emerging. Because of these undercurrent trends, the report calls for strong regional and international co-ordination on eel conservation and management.
The report’s authors said that eel production had steadily increased worldwide over the last 30 years, mainly because of the expansion of eel farming, which accounted for 95 percent of total production in 2013, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Most of this expansion took place in East Asia, with mainland China responsible for nearly 85 percent of worldwide eel production in 2013.
However, global eel production and consumption appears to have peaked and may now be going into reverse because of declining availability of wild stocks, controls on trade in juvenile or “glass” eels, steep price increases, and changes in consumer behavior affected by various issues including prices and food safety, they said.
Global demand for eels has traditionally been driven by consumption in East Asia, particularly in Japan. Traffic said there are wide differences between data from the FAO, which indicate that Japan’s consumption has fallen over the last decade from around 60 percent to 15 percent of global eel production, and from East Asian sources, which suggest that the Japanese still consumed 30-45 percent in 2012-2013.
In 2000-2002, the Japanese market’s annual eel consumption was 150,000 metric tons (MT).
While Japan’s role as an eel consumer appears to have declined, there has been a rising popularity in Japanese cuisine and a consequent increase in the number of Japanese restaurants offering eel dishes overseas, said Traffic.
Meanwhile, combined trade and FAO production data from China indicate a significant increase in domestic eel consumption over the past decade, reaching an estimated 150,000 MT in both 2012 and 2013, although once again large data discrepancies are evident.
Although less significant than Japan or mainland China, the analysis also suggests there is a growing domestic market for eels in South Korea.
Meanwhile, customs and seizures data and other sources show that large quantities of eel fry have been exported illegally from Europe, the Philippines, Indonesia and also within East Asia over recent years. Traffic said there are doubts over the legality not only of European eels grown out in mainland China farms, which are continuing to be re-exported many years after glass eels could be legally sourced from the EU, but also Japanese eels, which continue to be fished and traded illegally in the region.
Historically, farming and trade in East Asia involved the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica). From the 1990s, with growing scarcity of this native species, large quantities of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) glass eels were also imported.
Concerns over the impact international trade was having on the European variety led to trade in it being regulated through a listing in Appendix II of CITES in 2007. In December 2010, the EU banned all trade from its member states.
“As one species becomes costly or unavailable, eel farmers in East Asia move onto the next: sourcing has moved from Japan to other East Asian countries/territories, then to Europe, the Americas and now Southeast Asia – together with shifting markets, this makes keeping up with the international eel trade and consequently its legality and traceability extremely challenging,” said Vicki Crook, wildlife trade analyst for Traffic and co-author of the report.
