International eel symposium, 2003 - Quebec August 11, 2003
Oral Presentation

The Effect of Stock Enhancement by Elvers Anguilla anguilla L. in Danish Fresh and Brackish Waters: Two Case Stories

Pedersen, M.I.* Danish Institute of Fisheries Research, Vejlsøvej 39, Dk-8600 Silkeborg

Presenter email address: mip AT dfu.min.dk

Abstract Text: To counter for low elver recruitment to the Danish coast a stocking program has been under development since the late 1980s. Imported glass eels from southern Europe are cultured and stocked throughout the country. To assess the value of these stockings selected fresh and brackish water bodies has been stocked with coded wire tagged eel of size 3.4 and 9.5-g. In a lowland stream the fate of 13,000 stocked fish was surveyed by electrofishing selected stream sections over a period of two years. At the end of the study period only few eels were left in the stream and the stocking did not result in a larger population of eels. In a brackish Fjord a total of 100,000 tagged eel was stocked during 1998 and 1999. During the last three years (2000-2002) the commercial catches have been scanned for tagged eel. Until now the percentage of tagged fish in the commercial catch of yellow and silver phase eel has been increasing to a level suggesting that stocking with elvers on this Fjord are valuable to the fishery.