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A review of glass eel migratory behaviour, sampling techniques and abundance estimates in estuaries: implications for assessing recruitment, local production and exploitation

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Abstract

Recruitment of the three northern hemisphere eel species (European eel Anguilla anguilla, American eel Anguilla rostrata and Japanese eel Anguilla japonica) has reduced significantly over the past thirty-five years. The stock of the European eel is described as being outside safe biological limits, with urgent action required by European Union Member States to assist recovery of the panmictic stock. Stock recruitment models and estimates of silver eel output from a river catchment are strongly influenced by the degree of certainty in estimating key population parameters of each life history stage. Therefore, management decisions aimed at enhancing eel populations rely on sound scientific evidence, based upon a fundamental understanding of the complex anguillid eel life cycle. This review paper focuses on the estuarine entry phase of the eel life cycle and synthesises the current scientific knowledge with regard to glass eel migratory behaviour, sampling methods and abundance estimates within estuaries. Although the behavioural and environmental processes modulating glass eel migration patterns are reasonably well understood, site specific factors play a significant role in determining fine scale distribution patterns at an individual estuary level. Given the large resource commitment required to adequately sample this key life history stage, behavioural studies of migration patterns on a local scale are crucially important to aid the design of robust sampling programmes aimed at quantifying seasonal abundance and annual recruitment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency (England and Wales) and the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for providing funding for conducting glass eel studies and the completion of this review paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. APEM Ltd, Riverview, A17 Embankment Business Park, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, SK4 3GN, UK

    Andrew J. Harrison

  2. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK

    Alan M. Walker

  3. School of Applied Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK

    Adrian C. Pinder

  4. Institution d’Aménagement de la Vilaine, Boulevard de Bretagne, 56130, La Roche-Bernard, France

    Cédric Briand

  5. Environment Agency, Richard Fairclough House, Knutsford Road, Warrington, WA4 1HT, UK

    Miran W. Aprahamian

Authors
  1. Andrew J. Harrison
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  2. Alan M. Walker
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  3. Adrian C. Pinder
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  4. Cédric Briand
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  5. Miran W. Aprahamian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew J. Harrison.

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Harrison, A.J., Walker, A.M., Pinder, A.C. et al. A review of glass eel migratory behaviour, sampling techniques and abundance estimates in estuaries: implications for assessing recruitment, local production and exploitation. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 24, 967–983 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-014-9356-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-014-9356-8

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