Environment Agency officers have welcomed the arrival of elvers for the first time this year at an eel pass on the River Great Ouse, Cambridgeshire.
More than 100 juvenile eels travelled 3,000km from the Sargasso Sea before being counted at the Environment Agency’s Brownshill Staunch eel pass, downstream of St Ives.
European eels are a critically endangered species and the Environment Agency leads on eel conservation in England. This involves building and installing eel passes which improves access to habitat.
The Environment Agency also protects eels from illegal fishing, abstraction and works with partners to reduce the impacts of the industries it regulates.
Young elvers travel from the sea to freshwater where they grow and thrive. Eels spend up to 50 years maturing in freshwater, eventually returning back to the Sargasso to spawn.
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Posted On: 19/05/2020