TOKYO – More than 99 percent of eel products sold in 11 countries and regions worldwide come from three species at risk of extinction, a recent joint study by a Japanese and Taiwanese research team showed, underscoring the opaque nature of the global eel trade.
Using DNA barcoding, researchers at Chuo University in Tokyo and the National Taiwan University in Taipei found that almost all eels consumed worldwide belonged either to the American eel, Japanese eel or European eel species — all listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered or critically endangered.
With the globally murky eel trade making it difficult to track actual distribution, the team genetically identified 282 processed and live eel products purchased between 2023 and 2025 in 26 cities across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania.
They found that American eel was the most commonly detected species at 154 samples, followed by Japanese eel at 120 and European eel at four. There was also one Indonesian shortfin eel, while three samples could not be identified.
Based on these findings, and other data such as production volumes and trade statistics, the team estimated that American eel makes up 75.3 percent of global distribution, Japanese eel 18.0 percent, and European eel 6.7 percent.
Consumption was heavily concentrated in East Asia, with domestic supply in China accounting for around 60 percent of global distribution from 2020 to 2022. Japan came in second at around 19 percent, but had the highest per capita annual eel supply.
In June, the European Union proposed imposing export restrictions on all eel species under the Washington Convention, an international treaty regulating endangered species trade, warning that extinction is likely without regulation.
Kenzo Kaifu, a professor of conservation ecology at Chuo University involved in the study, said that not knowing actual resource and consumption volumes is a major issue.
“It is vital to understand the current situation and how (what’s on) our dining table is connected to the world,” said Kaifu.
