12/12
For a critically endangered species, “certified fishery” without guaranteed, traceable product is dangerously misleading.
We need real regulation, full traceability, and mandatory compliance — not voluntary labels.
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
#GreenwashingAlert
8/8
Kaliningrad’s Eel Management Plan modeled +40% future spawning biomass from moving glass eels that would’ve died in UK rivers. Killing that work didn’t “save eels” — it killed a recovery path. Time for retractions. Time for evidence-based policy.
#Sustainability
#EelTruth
7/8
Cross-border benefit: Since eels are a panmictic species, improvements in one part of their range (like Kaliningrad) may relieve pressure elsewhere and benefit recovery across Europe.
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
@EU_MARE
4/8
Resource optimisation: The project utilises surplus juvenile eels from other rivers (e.g., supplied from the UK) to restore areas where natural recruitment has collapsed.
#Transparency
#EelTruth
@SIFFCapitalMgmt
#AgriFish @EUCouncil
2/8
Strengthening biodiversity: By boosting eel populations in these lagoons, the project supports aquatic ecosystem health—eel presence contributes to nutrient cycling and food-web stability.
#GreenwashingAlert
#EelTruth #Transparency
5/11
Most restocked eels never reach adulthood.
Survival rates from glass eel → silver eel are often:
0.01% to 1%
So out of 30–40 million restocked:
➡️ Only 3,000 to 400,000 survive long enough to migrate or be caught.
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
4/10
The biggest offenders?
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇩🇪 Germany
🇩🇰 Denmark
These countries run industrial pipelines that vacuum up baby eels, fatten them, and ship them back out as “delicacies.”
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
4/9
Now add the connections. Everyone sees the tight networks, overlapping interests, and cosy relationships around SEG. This isn’t independent oversight — it’s insiders patting insiders on the back.
@ISEALalliance
#Ee|Deal2030
#Sustainability
#EelTruth
6/11
No time to fix governance, standards, certifications, or legal matters…
But plenty of time to push “sustainable” eel consumption?
This is exactly how greenwashing works.
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
3/11
Certification Changes
SEG’s certificates was updated on 11 November, but after people began reviewing it and asking questions, it was altered again on the 15th. Two changes in four days — why? What were they hiding?
#GreenwashingAlert
#EelTruth #Transparency
11/11
SEG must be stopped from opaque certifications — the critically endangered European eel’s survival depends on transparency. Any shady practices in the glass-eel trade are unacceptable.
#GreenwashingAlert
#EelTruth
@OceanaEurope
@ISEALalliance
@CITES
10/11
Right now this situation looks like:
– Bad results softened
– Inconvenient data removed
– Certificates replaced with no clarity
If SEG wants credibility, they need to address this openly. Silence only raises more doubts.
#Sustainability
#EelTruth
(5) SEGs SAS Estuaires Certification?
1/8
Let’s talk about how weak and inconsistent SEG’s certification system really is — using one example: SAS Estuaires, certified for “Responsibly Sourced” glass eel trading.
#EelTruth
@ISEALalliance
@Cites
@DefraGovUK
8/10
If SEG can’t guarantee that the companies it lists sell 100% legal eel, then the certification isn’t a safeguard — it’s a smokescreen.
#Conservation #WildlifeProtection
#EelTruth
@ISEALalliance
@Cites
@DEFRA
3/10
That means a company can be on the register even if only a fraction of its eel is certified.
10%? 25%? 50%? Nobody knows — SEG doesn’t say.
#EelTruth
@ISEALalliance
#Ee|Deal2030
#AgriFish @EUCouncil
@DefraGovUK
(3) SEGs Complacency
1/6
The Sèvre Niortaise Glass Eel Fishery’s conditional SEG certificate was issued Mar 2022, valid till Mar 2026.
Audit due Dec 2022 — still conditional.
Why is a “temporary” approval running 4 years?
#EelTruth
@ISEALalliance
@Cites
@DefraGovUK
3/5
“Pass now, fix later” = a license for continued exploitation.
Endangered species deserve full protection upfront, not probation periods. #Conservation #WildlifeProtection
#EelTruth
@ISEALalliance
@Cites
@DefraGovUK
4/7
Even SEG admits:
“This does not guarantee that 100% of their stock is SEG certified.”
So a trader can sell uncertified eel and still appear on the “sustainable” list.
#GreenwashingAlert
#EelTruth
@ISEALalliance
@Cites
@DefraGovUK
5/14
This means the legal entity behind the SEG Eel Standard — the certification system used across Europe — is dead on paper.
Once the ruling is published in the Moniteur belge (Belgian Official Gazette), it’s officially gone.
@ CITES CoP20
#EelTruth #Transparency
3/14
SEG was summoned to court in March 2025 to explain itself.
Nobody showed up.
Nobody even replied.
So the court ruled by default: SEG has failed its obligations and must be liquidated immediately.
#Ee|Deal2030
#EelTruth #Transparency
3/8
On 16 Sept 2025, ISEAL — the global watchdog for sustainability standards — suspended SEG’s membership and Code Compliant status.
Reason: “several failures” in SEG’s system. Not a minor paperwork issue — a systemic collapse in credibility.
#EelTruth #Transparency
2/8
With the majority of French farms uncertified in 2024, SEG effectively lost oversight of one of Europe’s biggest sources of eel.
Yet certified companies still traded on the SEG label. That’s not sustainability — that’s green cover.
#Sustainability
#EelTruth
13/15
@AndrewKerr also promotes eel consumption — encouraging eating an Endangered Species without credible sustainability data.
That’s reckless leadership, not conservation.
#EndangeredSpecies #EelConsumption
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
12/15
Illegal trade still thrives across Europe, often using “certified” supply chains.
SEG’s system has never stopped this, despite promises of “full traceability.”
#WildlifeCrime #IllegalTrade
#EelCrisis #Sustainability
#EelTruth
@DefraGovUK
7/7
This isn’t conservation.
It’s greenwashed exploitation.
The eel trade survives on fake sustainability labels & self-serving PR.
Don’t buy it.
Reduce or stop European quotas
#StopEatingEels
#SEGExposed #DEFRA
@FTM_eu @CITES
#Greenwashing #EelTruth
3/7
Imagine WWF saying:
“Save the tiger — buy more tiger skins.”
Absurd, right?
That’s @SustainableEel’s logic for endangered eels.
Consumption dressed up as conservation.
#EelTruth #CITES #Greenwashing #SEGExposed
The Sustainable Eel Group (SEG) isn’t saving Europe’s eels.
It’s protecting a business model built on “sustainability” branding — not results.
Eel stocks keep collapsing. SEG keeps selling certifications.
#EelTruth #Traceability
@defra
