Trends in Abundance and Fishing Mortality of American Eels

Abstract

A range of findings on the status of American Eels Anguilla rostrata has been published. The most extreme report occurred in 2014, when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature placed the species on its Red List, meaning that the Union considered it endangered. The trend in abundance of American Eels is consequently of concern for conservation biology and fishery management. Here, I present a new index of American Eel relative abundance in the estuarine waters along the U.S. Atlantic coast from 1981 through 2014, consisting of the total American Eel catch per trip by recreational anglers. Abundance was highest in 1981 and then declined through 1995 to about one‐sixth of the 1981 value. By 2003, abundance began an irregular increase; by 2014, it was approximately one‐half of the 1981 value. Combining commercial landings with the index of relative abundance produces the trend in fishing mortality, which has been relatively low during both the period of declining abundance and the period of increasing abundance, although it increased temporarily during the period of lower abundance from 1995 through 2002. I include a discussion of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's 2012 stock assessment and explore some general issues in stock assessment of American Eels.