Slippery customers: UK rewilding efforts aim to stop eels sliding into extinction

Legislation has seen trafficking rates plummet but the critically endangered fish faces manmade obstacles on its migration routePodcast: Inside the world of wildlife traffickingAn unusual rewilding mission is under way just off the M5 motorway. Eels the length of a little finger have finished their 6,600km (4,000-mile) migration from the salty Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic to the brackish water of the Bristol Channel. They have spent two years floating on ocean currents and are hoping to settle in the Somerset Levels. It is one of the planet's most mysterious wildlife migrations.Three fishers wait for eels on the banks of the River Parrett outside Burrowbridge with a large square net at the ready. The new arrivals look like threads of glass, fizzing with energy. I let out an involuntary squeal as the first batch arrive, much to the mirth of the fishers. "That's rubbish! You haven't been doing this long enough if you're getting excited about catching 10 [eels] at this time of year," says Steve George, who is a fencer by trade. Continue reading...