Live eel trade on move again

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 10

Live eel trade on move again

JOHN HUTCHISON

By

in San Francisco Live eels from New Zealand have finally wriggled through California’s red tape and are appearing in markets again. They were banned almost a year ago. Intercession by the New Zealand Trade Commission helped to persuade fish and game officials that the eels would not be a threat to the natural habitat, said Mr Alwyn Moores, assistant trade commissioner. The state had stopped their import for fear that the live eels might escape into the drains and river systems, breed, and eat young salmon and other native animal and plant life, affecting the environmental balance.

Notified by Thomas Richard, Ltd, the New Zealand exporter in Auckland, the commission and

the importer took up the problem with the California Department of Fish and Game to seek relaxation of the embargo. It is still restrictive, but, under a compromise, the importer agreed that the eels would be held by one distributor while alive, and killed before release to retailers or consumers. They had previously been released live to restaurants, hotels and retailers. The eels, shipped by air in styrofoam containers, are mainly popular in the Chinese trade. An effort was still under way to relax the ban further, said Mr Moores, who continues to work with state officials and the New Zealand Fishing Industries Board and New Zealand scientists to supply data to assure that the eels would not be harmful in case of accidental release.