Dekker, Willem and Beaulaton, Laurent
(2016).
Faire mieux que la nature? The History of Eel Restocking in Europe.
Environment and history. 22
:2
, 255-300
[Research article]
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Abstract
Young eel, recruiting from the ocean towards Europe, are most abundant along the Atlantic coast of France. Since 1840, attempts have been made to redistribute them from the areas of highest abundance to other countries and farther inland. This 'restocking' has been troubled by technical constraints (e.g. mode of transport and maximum distance eel can be shipped alive), wars (e.g. the Franco Prussian War and World Wars One and Two) and, in recent decades, by shortage of supply due to the general decline of the eel stock all across Europe. Though objectives and procedures have changed considerably over the years, the recurring aim has been to increase production and, in that way, to 'faire mieux que la nature'. We document the historical development of these efforts from their inception, and contrast the achievements to the objectives. Except for the 1952-1990 period in Eastern Europe, restocking has probably added only slightly to the natural production. As successful as restocking might have been locally, it has not markedly changed the overall trends and distribution patterns or halted the general decline of the stock and fishery. Poor post-evaluation, frequent technical innovation and a constant renewal of the countries and people involved have kept the promise of a better future alive for 175 years.
Authors/Creators: | Dekker, Willem and Beaulaton, Laurent | ||||||
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Title: | Faire mieux que la nature? The History of Eel Restocking in Europe | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Environment and history | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2016 | ||||||
Volume: | 22 | ||||||
Number: | 2 | ||||||
Page range: | 255-300 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 46 | ||||||
Publisher: | White Horse Press | ||||||
ISSN: | 1752-7023 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Refereed: | Yes | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 6 Humanities > 601 History and Archaeology > History (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 4 Agricultural Sciences > 401 Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries > Fish and Aquacultural Science | ||||||
Agrovoc terms: | eels, animal protection, international cooperation | ||||||
Keywords: | Eel, Anguilla, glass eel, bootlace, restocking, stocking, fishery, technical development, natural resources, international cooperation, development and protection, enhancement and recovery | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-3799 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-3799 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 13741 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Department of Aquatic Resources | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 22 Nov 2016 12:07 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2020 14:17 |
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