Glass eel, what is it ?

The glass eel is one of the stages of development of the European eel.
At birth, the planktonic larva, also known as the leptocephalus larva, is found in the Sargasso Sea, off North America. Then it drift with the current of the Gulf Stream and goes through its first metamorphoses until becoming an eel. After 6000km, the current led it to the North African and European coasts. The glass eel goes in an estuary in search of an area favorable to its development. In our rivers, it starts feeding and becomes an eel, then develops itself into a "yellow eel". When the eel is ready to reproduce in the Sargasso Sea, it turns into a "silver eel". It becomes an adult at the end of the return migration.

The fishery in France

The fishing period lasts 5 months. This period is however shifted according to the estuaries, in order to correspond to the migration pattern south / north along the coasts. Within the EMU LCV fishing is allowed from the 1 st of December to the 30th of April, mainly at night, provided that the quota is not reached before.
France is the first producer of glass eels, in front of the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal.
Glass eels fishing is an fallback activity for boats under 12 meters long that are unable to face with the bad sea conditions of the winter.
To catch the glass eels, the boats pull sieves (different according to estuaries), at a speed between 0.5 and 4 knots during 5 to 15 minutes. During the tide, glass eels are stored in a fish pond on board.