This year’s CITES Conference of the Parties has provided an important opportunity for the Sustainable Eel Group to extend and deepen its international network of organisations engaged in the management, monitoring and study of anguillid species. The breadth of partnerships that has emerged over the course of the first week reflects a shared recognition that effective trade governance requires a combination of policy expertise, enforcement experience, and scientific insight. The discussions demonstrated that although Parties diverge on certain regulatory questions, many face similar practical challenges, and SEG’s capacity to convene multiple perspectives placed it in a position to help bridge these gaps.

A central development was the strengthening of working relationships with the Wildlife Conservation Society, TRAFFIC, and Oceans North, each of which brings a complementary strand of expertise that can enhance SEG’s contribution to international dialogue on the eel issue. Based in New York City, WCS provides longstanding experience in enforcement capacity-building and global wildlife trade dynamics, giving SEG access to insights that span multiple regions and regulatory contexts. TRAFFIC’s analytical work on trade flows and in developing guidance on the proposal before the Parties, reinforces SEG’s interest in practical monitoring tools. And the Canadian civil society organisation, Oceans North, offers valuable links to community-based fisheries and northern resource management systems, ensuring that perspectives from frontline operators remain integrated into broader policy discussions. The significance of these alignment between our organisations is reflected in our close collaboration on the ‘Eel-Legal Trade’ side event and the statement jointly developed for the Chair of the Committee:

Thank you, Chair.

The Sustainable Eel Group, speaking also on behalf of TRAFFIC, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Oceans North, strongly urges parties to support this proposal and thank the European Union, its 27 member states and Panama for bringing it forward.

Demand for Anguilla meat has led to poaching and trafficking around the world. This is unfair for law abiding fishers and traders. It is having conservation impacts.

At CoP 14, this Conference recognised risks to Anguilla anguilla and decided to list it in Appendix II. Since then, demand for all Anguilla meat has only increased. Science shows negative impacts on Anguilla rostrata and Anguilla japonica that meet the criteria for listing.

There are many examples where smugglers falsely declared Anguilla anguilla or illicitly concealed it in shipments of non-controlled species.

While some claim glass eels can be differentiated by species, they look the same to frontline enforcement officers. And Anguilla species’ meats in trade look exactly alike, even to experts. This is why the look-alike criteria exists.

Concealed Anguilla anguilla verification is difficult and costly. The fact that DNA sequencing is required to tell Anguilla species apart is the clearest evidence that all Anguilla species meet the look-alike criteria for listing. While we welcome technological identification advances, there is no guarantee that they will be affordable and available in all situations or places.

Listing of all Anguilla species in Appendix II will close loopholes used by traffickers. It will support long-term conservation, communities and effective enforcement by frontline officers.

Thank you, Chair

Alongside these strategic partnerships with civil society, the Sustainable Eel Group also engaged closely with numerous national delegations, several of which expressed interest in understanding the technical implications of monitoring improvements, documentation procedures and species identification. These exchanges revealed that while countries vary widely in administrative capacity, scientific resources, and the scale of their domestic eel sectors, many are new to the eel issue, grappling with similar questions around how to construct reliable systems for recording trade, assess the legitimacy of exports, and ensure that specimens entering international markets can be linked to clear points of origin.

A further important development was SEG’s close and constructive engagement with EU Environment, whose officials participated actively in our side event and held regular discussions with our team in the lead up to the conference. These exchanges helped clarify how the EU’s experience with documentation systems, verification procedures, and enforcement challenges can inform wider international approaches, while also highlighting how SEG’s applied knowledge and long-term stakeholder relationships can support the EU’s broader objectives. This collaboration strengthened the consistency of messages presented publicly and demonstrated the value of maintaining a coherent dialogue between SEG, EU Environment and EU MARE as eel governance continues to evolve.

The interconnectedness of these contributions reinforced the need for collaborative mechanisms that can operate across disciplines and regions. Dialogue with enforcement-orientated NGOs and technical experts showed that documentation and identification issues often arise not from the complexity of CITES provisions themselves but from inconsistencies in how information is recorded, verified and transmitted across borders. By aligning perspectives from policy, enforcement and science, SEG’s network is now better equipped to support efforts aimed at increasing coherence across national systems.

The adoption of Resolution 87 has underlined the value of these relationships by establishing a shared mandate for reviewing monitoring tools, identification methods, and reporting practices. As the resolution directs work through the Animals Committee, Standing Committee, and Secretariat, SEG’s collaboration with a wide range of partners will be important in ensuring that the information feeding into these processes is comprehensive and reflective of the operational realities that countries face. These relationships provide SEG with access to diverse forms of expertise and allow it to support Parties more effectively as they work to strengthen monitoring systems, improve traceability and ensure that trade controls are grounded in clear, practical guidance. They also create opportunities for coordinated intersessional activity that can help prepare Parties for future decisions, lay the groundwork for more coordinated outreach and communications activity, and ensure continuity of dialogue across the full range of actors engaged in eel governance.