Eel Research 1972

Abstract

The national survey of eel stocks was continued in 1972. For the first time the eel population of a river, the Munster Blackwater, was studied. It proved to be the most densely stocked freshwater area sampled to date. It was calculated that between five and ten tons of eels must leave the river each year on migration. Unfortunately the eels were slow-growing and of rather low quality. The eel stocks of Lough Gill and Lough Conn were found t o be poor, heavily overfished and the eels were slow-growing. Two restricted areas which had been subjected to intense commercial fishing for several years, the South Sloblands Channel in County Wexford and the Broadmeadow Estuary, showed poor stocks and will take several years to recover, Unfortunately, eels grow so very slowly (rarely taking less than ten years to reach market size) that their stocks are highly susceptible to damage from overfishing.