Download FAR 2016/46 Recruitment of freshwater eels 1995–2015

Recruitment of freshwater elvers was quantified using catch data and elver ages from otoliths at nine sites. Age and length distributions showed several year classes are present at each site and length at age is highly variable between sites. There is a short-term recruitment cycle of up to seven years, and no evidence of an overall decline for shortfins or longfins since the 1990s. A consistent link between recruitment and trends of the Southern Oscillation Index was not evident.