Current Status and Problems of the Catch Statistics on Anguillid Eel Fishery in Indonesia

Abstract

To compensate the decline of the populations of temperate anguillid eels, tropical anguillid eels become getting attention of East Asian eel market in recent years. Many eel farms have been established in Java Island to culture tropical anguillid eels intending to export the products to East Asia. Since eel farming is reliant on wild-caught anguillid eels such as glass eels, elvers and yellow eels, these eel seeds have been captured in various places in Indonesia. However, it is still unknown that how much of tropical anguillid eels are caught as seeds for eel farming. This study showed two different patterns of the commodity chains of eel seeds from both Sukabumi Regency and Bengkulu Province to the eel farms in Java Island. Official catch statistics on anguillid eels found in both Sukabumi Regency and Bengkulu Province were also analyzed on their features and problems underlied. Considering the sustainable use of anguillid eel resources and critical stances on exploitation of eel seeds from all over the world, the Indonesian government should take an immediate action for developing the national catch statistics on anguillid eel fishery as soon as possible.

Addressing fish-passage issues at hydropower and irrigation infrastructure projects in Indonesia

“…There was concern that Poso Dam would have significant impacts on local eel populations. Eels fetch a high price for local villagers who export them to a lucrative Japanese market (Honda et al 2016). Provision was, therefore, made for a short fishway connecting the lower tailrace to the former Poso River, which was diverted to make provision for the Poso hydroelectric project.…”

“…However, from an ecological perspective, the main issue is related to downstream passage. Eels generally migrate long distances to spawn in deep ocean trenches and would return seaward after spending many adult years in the Upper Poso catchment (Honda et al 2016). However, there are no downstream migration facilities included into the Poso Hydroelectric design.…”

Short Communication: Behavioral study on Anguilla bicolor using a modified trap design at laboratory scale

“…According to the past studies, tropical eel species A. bicolor have been found in the south coast of Java island (Setiawan et al 2001;Honda et al 2016;Taqwa et al 2017). However, these studies have mainly focused on the population dynamics, nutritional feeds, habitat ecology of the anguillid eels (Sugeha and Genisa 2015;Lukas et al 2017;Handajani et al 2018).…”

An overview of the Anguillid eel culture in Vietnam

“…The main species for aquaculture in Vietnam are A. marmorata, while A. bicolor pacifica and A. japonica contribute under 5%. As part of the study, data collection was done in the southern central provinces (where tropical Anguillid eel fisheries are practiced) by interviewing the eel consolidators, fishers, farmers and local officers (The survey was applied according to the method of Groves et al 5 as well as recording the statistics from country reports, and recently research results related to the situation of eel (Anguilla spp.) farming in Vietnam.…”