Only four people have been convicted of illegal eel fishing in Blekinge during the last eight years, reports P4 Blekinge. This despite the fact that as many as 1,500 eel nets have been seized during the same period.
We seize by far the most nets in Blekinge. But often the nets have been out for a longer time and it is very rare that you catch someone in the act, says fisheries controller Tobias Jeppsson at the Agency for Marine and Water Management.
Just a few days ago, the Coast Guard made a major seizure of 550 eels in a total of 23 nets in Karlskrona's archipelago. Four preliminary investigations into crimes against the Fisheries Act were initiated.
The eel is acutely endangered and in general, a ban on eel fishing has applied since 2007.
