Glastonbury, England (3 August 2024) – This month, the Somerset Eel Recovery Project (SERP) hosted the first Somerset Eel Conference, the largest of a programme of talks and workshops held by the community-led conservation group to engage communities with issues in water management policy and the latest research. The Sustainable Eel Group (SEG) and SHOAL were in attendance, together with scientists, conservationists, policymakers, and other key stakeholders in the European eel’s future.
Andrew Kerr opened the conference with an address that contextualised the grassroots approach pioneered by SERP within an international conservation landscape. His speech identified the integration of social, economic, and environmental needs as an essential attribute of sustainable eel conservation, and identified small, but impactful solutions as the most effective conduits for change in an increasingly polarised geopolitical climate.
Dr. Willem Dekker, SEG’s senior scientific advisor, delivered a keynote address which examined the evolution of conservation policies in Europe. He described the historical challenges and successes in developing effective water management strategies and illustrated the efficacy of European Union Eel Management Plans.
Other notable agenda items included a research presentation by the Environment Agency’s Andy Don on the marine phase of the eel’s life cycle recently conducted in the Azores. This was followed by a new study detailing the relative impact of wetland destruction on migratory fishes, from Dr. Mark Everard; and Julia Manning’s artistic exploration of eel disruption and decline.
An important feature of the conference was the report on initiatives pioneered by the Somerset Eel Recovery Project, which included eel population monitoring using environmental DNA (eDNA), straw rope making as a simple eel pass solution, and the ‘Eels in the Classroom’ programme, a scheme developed with local primary and secondary school children which engaged hundreds of young people with eel husbandry and conservation. This demonstrated the capacity for citizen scientists with limited resources to make key contributions to global eel conservation efforts, as well as education and research.
People travelled from all parts of England to attend SERP’s conference, with many expressing interest in developing their own equivalent organisations. The prospect of a ‘Fenland Eel Recovery Project’ was actively discussed with four attendees, SHOAL examined the possibility of closer collaboration with SERP, while one speaker negotiated a research and outreach opportunity with the Environment Agency on eels in the Arts.
Media representatives were invited to engage with organisers, speakers, and visitors throughout the conference and to record the eel release to the nearby River Brue conducted at the end of the day. Several news segments emerged out of the conference, developed by BBC Countryfile and CNN, together with Joe Shute of The Telegraph, and The Guardian’s Anita Roy.
Vanessa Becker-Hughes, founding Director of SERP, recognised that the event had the potential to draw diverse voices into the debate around the eel’s future and incorporated a river blessing, a family friendly ‘dress the eel’ activity, as well as an art-curated display of flowers and paintings to drive engagement and consolidate the community base. Her opening remarks distilled her ambitions down to an essence: ‘upon us now is a great opportunity to build on the work in hand relating to the recovery of the European eel in Somerset and beyond’.
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