The UK government has banned the export of endangered glass eels to Russia, impacting traditional fishing practices. Peter Wood, the last remaining eel trader in Britain, lamented that this decision would effectively end centuries of elver fishery, specifically in the River Severn, as there are no alternative markets available. The European eel is classified as protected due to a significant decline in their population. Despite previous allowances for exports under strict conditions, the concerns related to illegal trading prompted the government to deny further requests for exporting glass eels.
"The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a protected, red-listed species, with the number of elvers migrating into European rivers having declined by 95% since the 1980s."
"It is absolutely devastating, said Wood. All my team are going to lose their jobs. This will be hundreds of years of heritage and culture gone."
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