Eels facing population collapse, conservation groups warn

Conservation groups have argued that all EU eel fisheries should be closed, to allow populations space to recover. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

Eels are facing population collapse, conservation groups have warned, after annual fishing negotiations for key EU waters ended in the setting of quotas above those scientists have recommended.

Eels are critically endangered, and conservation groups and scientists have argued that all EU eel fisheries should be closed, to allow populations space to recover.