WCC 2016 Rec 099 - Activity Report

ZSL, the Philippines Department for Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippines Bureau for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) are implementing a project that aims to build capcity in a number of communities in the country such that freshwater resources are better managed. This has included using eels as a flagship species, and there are efforts to try and replicate the work in other parts of the country. Further, eel management plans, the first of which was established in the Cagayan River where this project is based, are now being developed throughout the country and a workshop was held to bring managers across the Philippines together.
ZSL also hosted a workshop to train BFAR staff in the use of remote telemtry for studying aquatic species.

There have been a number of workshops that have occurred in the past twelve months relating to anguillid eels. Under CITES Decisions 17.186-17.189 two workshops were held. The first was in the Dominican Republic relating to the American eel; this was the first time many of the Caribbean range states had been engaged and it was an extremely useful meeting to build relationships between range states, but also with relevant agencies within countries. Soon after this, a workshop was held in London which brought a wide range of anguillid eel stakeholders together to discuss the status of anguillid eels broadly and how CITES can work to conserve the Appendix II listed European eel, but also non-listed species.
The CMS secretariat and the Sargasso Sea Commission, in collaboration woth ZSL, held the second European eel Range State workshop to discuss the development of a mechanism under CMS to progress European eel conservation. Importantly this included representation from North Africa, a region where our knowledge of the species is limited. The thurd meeting has already been planned for the coming 12 months where we are hopeful a final draft of the CMS mechanism can be agreed by range states.
SEAFDEC held a workshop in Thailand to bring together East Asian government representatives to discuss the sustainable management of anguillid eel resources.

ZSL delivered two major reports on the status of anguillid eels under CITES Decisions 17.186-17.189. One related to the implementation of the Appendix II listing of the European eel - https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/com/ac/30/E-AC30-18-01-A1.pdf; the second related to the status of non-listed anguillids - https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/com/ac/30/E-AC30-18-01-A2.pdf. The reporst were discussed at a worksing group at the CITES Animals Committee and Standing Committee. There was also a side event held at AC focussing on eels. The outputs of these meeting will be discussed at CoP in 2019.
The IUCN AESG engages with a number of range states on their policy relating to eels and visits were made to Japan, the Philippines and the European Commission to engage with policymakers.

The second Red List assessment workshop of the Anguillid Eel Specialist Group was convened at ZSL in November. 13 experts reviewed the status of all 16 species and we are looking to publish these during 2019.
As part of a project in the Philippines, ZSL and the Philippines Bureau for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources have established a small acoustic receiver array in the Cagayan River in order to increase our understanding of the movement of eel species found in the region - this is the first study of its kind in the Philippines.