The Fisheries Research Institute last month released 500kg of eels into the Lanyang River (蘭陽溪) in Yilan County in an effort to boost the eel population in the area.
Eels found in Taiwan, known as Japanese eels or Anguilla japonica, have seen an annual drop-off in numbers, because of overfishing and river pollution, the institute said.
At its peak, catching eels was a profitable industry valued at about NT$560 million (US$17.6 million) per year, it said.
However, without the technology to raise eels artificially in the nation, the annual catch has declined from a peak of 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes to just several thousand tonnes, it said.
Raising eels artificially is difficult because of a lack of knowledge of preferred habitats and food for eels, Fisheries Research Institute Director-General Chen June-ru (陳君如) said.
Last month’s release was the 60th repopulation effort since 1976 and, so far this year, the agency has released about 1,500 eels in total, Chen said, adding that each eel carried a chip to allow researchers to study their migratory routes, life history and growth.
The data would help local aquafarmers raise eels artificially, Chen said.
Eels in the region usually mature in the middle to lower course of rivers before entering the ocean and mating in the Mariana Trench, and the young eels would be carried back to the river systems of Taiwan, Japan, China and Korea via ocean currents, Chen said.
The eel population in Yilan County is at most one-fifth of what it was a decade ago, Yilan County Fisheries Division chief Chen Tsu-chien (陳祖健) said, adding that the county has put in place regulations that ban catching eels no larger than 8cm.
Only by restricting the catching of young eels would they have a chance to return to the ocean and reproduce, Chen Tsu-chien said.
The county hopes the regulatory measures would help fishery resources become sustainable, he said.
Repopulation efforts should be a public effort, and people who accidentally catch young eels should release them again, he said.
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