killing eels

caught an silver eel last week, brought it home and eat it,lovely it was too but after reading a few posts, i am now wondering, is the ban on eel fishing for commercials only, or is it a general ban including rod anglers.

As far as I'm informed, the Government banned all eel fishing as its solution to an EU directive which sought to protect eel stocks. The ban includes rod and line fishing.

Eel fishing is closed until 2012. The prospect of re-opening the eel fishery will be considered at that time, following a review of the data collated as a result of scientific sampling provided for in the draft plan.

* Bye-law No C.S. 303, 2009 prohibits fishing for eel, or possessing or selling eel caught in a Fishery District in the State until June 2012.
* Bye-Law No 858, 2009 prohibits the issue of eel fishing licences by the regional fisheries boards in any Fishery District.

source:
http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/An ... ations.htm
http://www.northwestfisheries.ie/fishing/regs.htm

cheers,guess its c&r for eels from now on pity, they taste lovely!

caught a few during the week noel while bass fishing and back they went.
n.i. hasn't banned them as far as i know!

caught a few during the week noel while Bass fishing and back they went.
n.i. hasn't banned them as far as i know!

dont think ill go to the north just for eels thomas, mabye drink tho it seems funny not to fish for them,as kids, we used to fish for them in the local river, as my dad loved them,and every november we used to trap them as they migrated.(have not done that since the late seventys)there would be thousands travelling the streams making there way to the sea.

just think of all the rigs you'll be savin yourself from havin to untangle/clean down.

i know you cant do it anymore but out of curiosity how did ya cook it

i know you cant do it anymore but out of curiosity how did ya cook it

real simply,skinned and fried in butter in the frying pan,with homemade chips.yummee

Do congers fall into this ban as well?

Do congers fall into this ban as well?

No, it relates to freshwater eels (Anguilla anguilla) only

We used to catch loads of them as kids but I haven't caught one in years, they're awful slimy slippery things that have an uncanny knack of wrapping themselves around your arms as you try to unhook them. Apparently though if you put them on their back it disorientates them and they don't wriggle as much, I wish I knew that a few years ago.

piece of newspaper they stick to it straight away allowing you to take out the hook

piece of newspaper they stick to it straight away allowing you to take out the hook

very good tip, and in case they are gut hooked, cut the line close to their jaws, don't attempt to pull the hook out or try to remove it with pliers, unless you used stainless steel hooks their digestive fluids can deal with the hooks in a matter of days and they survive no problem.

eels,eels, eels, used to spend loadsa time fishing for them on the river feale when i was a youngster. the local stretch was tidal and nothing else would take with the tide in. simple stuff , a worm on a single and 5 mins later.... best way by far to hold an eel is to grasp the eel with your middle finger and pin it with your ring and index fingers...guaranteed to work.

trying to hold and squeeze the slimy devil as you would another fish a waste of time and i'm sure damaging to the fish.

Don't know if I would be eating eels.......apparently there full of pcp and all the chemicals put in to rivers including heavy metals ............and I don't mean Metallica.

as far as i know it was -aways- illegal for individual anglers to kill eels, - you needed a licence, and that was only available to commericial fishermen, remember there being a documentary on rte a few years ago, where there were a few old boys fisihng for them on the shannon, and keeping them for the pot - when asked about the law forbidding this, they said they had always ignored it and it had never been a problem. seems the eel fisihng licenseing laws were only enforced for commercials.

not sure how it stands now, but it seems it is just a different law that non commercial anglers are going to ignor, to be honest I wont be returning any decent sized eels i catch, fresh eel, skinned and fried is as good as it gets.

when i lived in galway, I saw tankers full of them taken from the corrib headed straight for the ferry, in the last 10 years I would be lucky if i have taken a dozen. I am sure there are millions of factors affecting eel numbers - but i dont reckon the odd angler keeping a few for the pan is going to make a difference

wonder how much fishery management played a part too - remember hearing how poorly the eel fishery on the shannon was managed/developed compared to lough neagh - where the co op had worked really well.

they do make s***t of you rigs tho

davy

back in the ninetys i went out for the day with a commercial crew from northern ireland who had the licence for lough mask,they went out in the morning and brought in three miles of line,a couple of hundred of eels,rebaited them and stright out again,that evening they repeated the whole process again,seven days a week for 5 months,so davy if you kill the odd one i would not worry about it!!

back in the ninetys i went out for the day with a commercial crew from northern ireland who had the licence for lough mask,they went out in the morning and brought in three miles of line,a couple of hundred of eels,rebaited them and stright out again,that evening they repeated the whole process again,seven days a week for 5 months,so davy if you kill the odd one i would not worry about it!!

Did they catch anything else, trout etc?

Mmmmmm

Loves eels really nice in the pan with garlic and chilli or Jellied cold with bread & butter good solid meat on them!!

I have heard somewhere that there is an eel fishery on Loch Erne around Enniskillen not sure if upper or lower, but I may go give a bash when I find out where they are.

also proably an old wives tale, but I was told when younger if you catch an eel, draw a cross on the ground and lay it in the centre and it would lie still, cant confirm or believe it works but a cousin of mine swore by it.

Warren

i was watching an episode of wet nets today on discovery shed with matt heys. they did a section on the eels where he caught one that was about a foot and a half long and about an inch and a half wide. he reckoned it was 15 to 20 years old and they can live to reach 60 years old jaysus,, there was me thinking wrasse were slow growing fish. nothing compared to the eels

i was watching an episode of wet nets today on discovery shed with matt heys. they did a section on the eels where he caught one that was about a foot and a half long and about an inch and a half wide. he reckoned it was 15 to 20 years old and they can live to reach 60 years old jaysus,, there was me thinking wrasse were slow growing fish. nothing compared to the eels

Growth rates in eels are very variable, depending on the food supply in their habitat. Eels in the fertile limestone lakes such as the midlands, Corrib, and Neagh, would grow quite fast and reach maturity in 12-15 years, males at up to 45cm and females at up to 1m long. Eels in fisheries along the west coast, with poorer soild and geology and less feeding, grow much slower, and can take decades to reach maturity. The oldest eel recorded in the Burrishoole traps was 58 years old IIRC.
We are only starting to see the decline in adult eel stocks that has been seen in the rest of Europe. Elver recruitment to freshwater crashed in the 1980s and early 90s, and has not recovered since. Since growth rates in continental Europe are faster because of higher temps, they saw yellow and silver eel stocks decline before we did. Our eels that arrived when elver stocks were declining drastically are only now reaching maturity, so we are starting to see the decline in adult stocks now (well over the last few years). It will get a lot worse, and we could see virtually no eels for a long time. If a total fishing ban was introduced across Europe, the length of the lifecycle is so long that it would take maybe 100 years for stocks to recover. Thats if they can recover at all.