The network attempted to remove 724kg of live eels, with a value equating to €580,000, from Spain to Asia but were stopped in the first major operation carried out by SEPRONA, Spain’s nature protection service of the Civil Guard.
The network falsely documented the eels for transit to Asia as other species not subject to regulations, including the American eel, the California red worm, and the flathead grey mullet.
Illegal trade
The export and import of European eel out of and into the European Union has been suspended since 2010.
However, the scale of the illegal trade remains vast: according to Europol, 300 to 350 million European eels are illegal trafficked every year from Europe to Asia, accounting for almost one quarter of the total number of glass eels (juvenile eels) entering European waters every year.
The accused have been found guilty of trading in endangered eels without national authorisation within the CITES Convention and have been sentenced to a total of six years in prison and fined €1.5 million. Two individuals are facing further charges against another case of smuggling European eel in 2017.
Precious species
Andrew Kerr, Chairman of the Sustainable Eel Group, commented:
“Spain is becoming a leader within Europol through its commitment to stopping these crimes. These are major fines and imprisonment, which illustrate that wildlife crime is important and will be severely punished within Spain and the EU.”
Kerr added:
“Illegal trafficking still affects 25 percent of the total stock of European Eel. To complete the full recovery of the precious species, it is vital that we stop all smuggling because it undermines every effort used to establish adequate protection from other human impacts across Europe.”
In 2018, eight tons of trafficked eels were intercepted across Europe by authorities and 100 people were detained for the contraband. Since 2011, SEPRONA alone has carried out five major interventions in the trade, which has resulted in eight tons of smuggled eels to be seized.