The Sustainable Eel Group (SEG) expresses profound concern over findings from the Wildlife and Countryside Link’s (WCL) 2023 report, which underscore alarming increases in wildlife crime, particularly trafficking, across the UK. SEG applauds WCL’s comprehensive analysis, revealing a near-record number of wildlife offences and an unprecedented decline in the number of convictions.

Whilst enforcement on eel trafficking has improved in recent years, SEG would like to emphasise that this more general pattern of behaviour represents a direct threat to critically endangered species including the European eel, which are already targeted by illegal trafficking networks connecting Europe with the Far East. WCL’s report highlights that weak enforcement not only jeopardises survival rates for vulnerable species but endangers broader ecosystem health and biodiversity—a crisis that SEG believes requires immediate, coordinated governmental action.

SEG fully supports WCL’s call to make wildlife crime a notifiable offence, which would prioritise it for law enforcement agencies and improve conviction rates. As stated in the report, this status change could provide urgently needed resources and legal weight to combat criminal networks targeting protected species. Additionally, SEG advocates for enhanced tracking systems and greater funding for investigative units, essential tools that SEG believes will make an immediate difference in curtailing trafficking risks for vulnerable species.

‘As the WCL report clearly demonstrates, failing to enforce wildlife protections has dangerous, far-reaching impacts’, a spokesperson for SEG stated. ‘We urge the UK Government to adopt WCL’s recommendations swiftly, ensuring that wildlife trafficking is treated with the urgency it demands. Only through such actions can we protect the UK’s biodiversity and address the ongoing threats facing endangered species’.

This is particularly pertinent in the present climate, where a government-sanctioned trade between the UK and Russia threatens to destabilise established monitoring and tracking mechanisms for the eel stock.

For more on WCL’s findings and recommendations, please read the Wildlife and Countryside Link’s full report.