Open Access
Advances in
Oceanography & Marine Biology
Editorial
Copyright © All rights are reserved by Anushka Hewavitharane
State of Freshwater Eels in the South Pacific
Anushka Hewavitharane*
Kyushu University, Japan
*Corresponding author: Anushka Hewavitharane, Kyushu University, Japan.
Received Date: August 08, 2018
Published Date: August 09, 2018
Editorial
Freshwater eels of the genus Anguilla consists of 16 species
and 3 subspecies that are distributed in the Indo-Pacific and North
Atlantic Ocean. They are consumed as delicacies throughout their
dispersal range especially in Japan, Europe and the Americas.
With growing demand for eels on the international market the
three major species currently cultured in the aquaculture industry,
Japanese eels A. japonica, European eel A. anguilla and American
eel A. rostrata have all been severely overfished with populations
on the brink of extinction.
This has resulted in an increased interest from Southeast Asian
eel aquaculturists in procuring anguillid glass eels and elvers
from the South Pacific which is the last frontier for eel stocks. But
with little or no knowledge of inshore migration mechanisms,
seasonality or abundance of glass eels in the South Pacific region
there is a grave risk of overexploitation.
Although there are approximately thirteen of the total nineteen
species occurring in the tropical Pacific Oceans with 6 species
distributed within the islands and landmasses of the South Pacific
there is very little knowledge on the exact population density of all
six species. This may be due to the fact that most Island nations
in the South Pacific have vast numbers of Islands scattered within
each Island territory but most importantly there was never a need
to undertake stock assessments of freshwater eels as they did not
have a price tag attached to them until now. The tropical anguillid
eel population in the South Pacific seems to be high in diversity
but low in abundance but again with very scarce information it is
extremely difficult to quantify population statistics. Therefore there
is an urgency for scientists and biologists in the aquatic sciences to
undertake research and broaden the knowledge on freshwater eels
in the South Pacific.
Furthermore it is unfair to label a highly valuable income
generating enterprise such as the eel aquaculture industry as a
scourge in the Pacific especially as it has the potential of improving
the livelihorod of poor Pacific communities. But first there needs
more knowledge on freshwater eels needs to be garnered and with
this information promulgation of regulations and laws governing
the effective utilization of eel stocks be put in place to prevent the
negative effects as seen with the Japanese, European and American
eels.
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License AOMB.MS.ID.000501.
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