glass eels, a luxury product that is widely trafficked

A small fish of a few centimeters, which is of great value. Elver is an endangered species, but is the subject of trafficking estimated at more than 3 billion euros per year. In France, they are only 600 able to fish it. If the practice is ancestral, professionals stress it: there are much less glass eels than thirty years ago. “You never know how much and where you are going to take it, so you have to look”, describes a fisherman.

Only 40% of the catch is sold, while the rest is used to repopulate European rivers. Export outside Europe is prohibited, but for ten years, a quarter of glass eels have been exported to Asia. In 2019, customs intercepted 1.2 tonnes of glass eels, equivalent to 3.6 million euros. “We are on structured networks of several people, not the simple act of everyone or a fisherman who fishes a little more than authorized”, reports a customs officer. If the product is so coveted in Asia, it is because glass eels are becoming increasingly rare there. Prices soar on the black market, up to 4000 euros per kilo.