Eel project sees nearly 23,000 released into river

Nearly 23,000 glass eels have been released into a chalk stream for a research project to see if their numbers can be increased.

The eels, originally from the River Severn, have been put in at nine points on the River Kennet in Berkshire by Environment Agency (EA) fisheries specialists where their health and growth will be closely monitored.

It is hoped restocking them in the river will result in more eels navigating their way back out to sea to breed.

The EA said the project was being carried out to "safeguard this critically endangered species" after numbers of the once-common eel declined sharply in the 1980s.

The EA said: "The numbers of new, young eels arriving at our shores are now a tiny percentage of those that arrived in the 1960s and 1970s."

It added the reasons for the sharp drop in numbers were "unclear but may be due to over-fishing, habitat loss and fragmentation, parasites or climate change".

Peter Gray, EA fisheries team leader, said: "We are working hard to address the many struggles that eels face and are taking action to safeguard this critically endangered species.

"Over the coming months and years, we will closely monitor the released eels to see how they are surviving and growing. Eventually we want to discover whether this type of management produces more eels going out to sea to breed."

European eels hatch 4,000 miles (6,500km) away in the Atlantic's Sargasso Sea before crossing the ocean and migrating up UK estuaries and rivers.

The eels need to swim freely up and downstream along rivers to find places to hide and food to eat in order to successfully grow.

Mature eels then make the journey back to the Sargasso Sea to breed.

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