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Appeal for the Eel

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Urge the Government to Help the American Eel

The Government of Canada needs a push to step up for the American Eel before it’s too late. Help us send a strong message to government by signing our appeal for the eel. Every signature makes a difference!


Appeal for the Eel

To: The Honourable Bernadette Jordan; Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Given that:

  • The American Eel is an important part of ocean, estuary and river ecosystems, and has significant cultural and commercial value.
  • The eel is of cultural importance for Indigenous Peoples in the Lake Ontario and Saint-Lawrence basin and throughout Atlantic Canada.
  • The eel is of cultural importance for coastal communities in the St. Lawrence estuary, Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic coast.
  • The eel population has decreased by 99% in some areas, mostly because of historical obstacles in its migration path, such as hydroelectric dams.
  • Over the past decade, the eel has become the focus of a black market trade in elvers along the Atlantic coast, putting the species and the limited legal fishery at even greater risk.
  • The recovery of American Eel in Lake Ontario may be critical to the recovery of the threatened St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga Whale population.
  • Solutions currently exist to provide safer passage at hydroelectric facilities; however, the department of Fisheries and Oceans has only required that solutions be implemented at a handful of hydroelectric dams.
  • The Government of Canada has failed to make a decision on listing the American Eel on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act as Threatened, as recommended by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) in 2012, despite having completed consultations on March 18, 2016.
  • The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard can order owners of obstructions to provide passage, if the Minister considers this necessary, to ensure the free passage of fish or the protection of fish or fish habitat, under subsection 34.3 (2) of the Fisheries Act.

I call on you to act immediately to require safe passage for American Eels at hydroelectric dams and other barriers that block their migration.

I wish to see the American Eel return to our rivers, and I ask the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to take action to ensure this outcome.