Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The licences are there on a statutory basis but are not being issued. In 2009, there was a ban on eel netting and exploitation of eels was introduced because the stock was in crisis. Across north-west Europe stocks were at 1% of what they would have been under pristine conditions. It is a north-west European stock. It goes to the Sargasso Sea. It does not come back like the salmon to an individual river so it is particularly at risk. It has a very long life cycle. An eel will take 30 years before it will migrate down river. We also have issues with a number of obstructions on rivers that make it perilous but there is no exploitation or catch of eel. Eel fishermen to bring eels upstream and across dams, but there is no catching and exploitation of eels.