Arkadiusz Wołos, Maciej Mickiewicz, Tomasz Czerwiński
ABSTRACT. The issue of decreasing commercial catches of eel in recent years is of tremendous significance to lake fisheries management. This species is valuable both ecologically and economically as it plays a leading role in the fisheries and, in many instances, a decisive one in the profitability of commercial fisheries. The paper provides an analysis of surveys from 1995 to 2007 that comprise data about eel catches and stocking from an annual average of 70 fisheries enterprises that exploit a lake surface area of 228 012 ha. This is approximately 85% of the total lake surface area that is exploited for fisheries in Poland. Data from the RRW-23 questionnaires that were collected under the auspices of the Program for Public Statistics were analyzed. These concerned the stocking and catches of eel in fisheries districts in Poland in 2006 conducted by 329 fishing enterprises exploiting a surface area of approximately 386.9 thousand ha. During the period in question, a decrease in eel catches was noted from 387.6 tons in 1995 to 137.7 tons in 2007, which is equal to a 5% decrease annually. The percentage of enterprises stocking eel also decreased from 84% to about 50%, although stocking with glass eel has been nearly completely replaced by stocking with reared fry
Keywords: eel, commercial catches, stocking, survey studies
Przyjęto po recenzji 17.08.2009 r.