Visrokerij Gebr. Kraan BV starts 'Eels for Eels' project

For each eel that is consumed, at least one eel will be released into the wild. This notion forms the core of Visrokerij Gebr. Kraan BV’s new 'Eels for Eels' project. Young glass eels will be released in the spring of 2011 (the end of April through the beginning of June) at various locations throughout the Netherlands, such as Friesland. The project will run for several years, and will be evaluated after five years.

The eel population has quickly declined over the past couple of years because small eels (glass eel, eel fingerling) are no longer being released into the wild. “You reap what you sow,” is quite applicable. This project will restart the process of releasing small eels into the wild. Its goal is to improve the eel population and to give the eels the chance to reproduce in nature once again. This will make it possible to continue to eat eel in a responsible and sustainable fashion, without reducing the eel population even further.

Conditions
The release locations have to comply with strict criteria in order to provide the eels with the best possible chance to survive. These criteria are:
• no water pollution;
• small or negligible cormorant population;
• sustainable eel fisheries;
• good opportunities for the eels to migrate to sea where they can propagate;
• no obstructions such as pumping engines;
• the released eels must be monitored by sustainable fisheries.

Initiative
The 'Eels for Eels' project is an initiative by Visrokerij Gebr. Kraan BV, a fish smokehouse committed to the conservation and recovery of the eel population in the Netherlands. Companies sympathetic to this cause can take part only after having made contact with Visrokerij Gebr. Kraan BV.

This logo on the package guarantees that for each eel that is consumed, at least one eel will be released into the wild.