Dog food or longfin eels?

The Longfin eels are in trouble. Big trouble.

Fishers are allowed to catch as much as 140 tonnes of Longfin eels a year, that’s nearly 70,000 eels a year! And to make it worse, these eels only breed once at the end of their lives.

Female Longfin eels can be 60-70 years old before they have babies.

The migration of Longfin eels is an amazing thing. They travel 2500 kilometres all the way to Tonga where they breed and lay their eggs.

But it is getting harder and harder for them to breed – because their passage to this remote breeding ground is being blocked by hydro-dams or they’re being caught by fishers.

Some of these endangered eels are even being sold as dog food!

On top of this - they’re losing their homes; many of the swamps, lakes and streams have been drained to make room for new houses and paddocks.

Our Longfin eels are in serious danger of going extinct.

We can help by creating eel-friendly hydro-dams – ones with ladders that help elvers to go upstream!

Look after our eels, they’re special. If you catch a black eel and it skins wrinkles, put it back, it’s one of our special Longfin eels.

If you want to join save our Longfin eel sign Forest & Bird's petition by clicking on this link.

Liam Gilroy.