Japan loves its unagi a bit too well. The government has officially added the nation's freshwater eel population to its "red list" of endangered species after finding a 70 to 90 percent rate of decline over the last three generations.

Like most cases of over-consumption, this unfortunately comes as little surprise given that the Japanese tear through 70 percent of the world's catch and the difficulty in farm raising them. In 2004, The Associated Press reported on two brothers, Doug and Tim Watts, who were dedicated to saving the declining American eel population, and The New York Times ran another story in 2011, writing at length about the species' involved if not damned-impressive spawning process:

The eels hatch in the Sargasso Sea, a two-million-square-mile region of warm water in the North Atlantic. Then the young eels ride the ocean currents until they reach freshwater rivers anywhere from Greenland to South America. They live for as long as 25 years before returning to the Sargasso to lay their eggs and die.

The Guardian reported in 2009 that European eel consumption has declined by 95 percent over the last 25 years. And two years before the Guardian story, a Seafood Watch report from 2007 warned of the problem and advised more sustainable methods to help rebuild three freshwater eel species' populations (bolding theirs).

The most pressing problem facing eel aquaculture remains the reliance on wild stocks that are in jeopardy. The three major species on which the eel fishing and aquaculture industries depend are all in decline and may require decades to rebuild. While scientists are making progress on recreating the entire eel life cycle in captivity, they have yet to succeed, and a practical method may be years away. If wild stocks can be rebuilt to a point where sustainable fishing can be practiced, or aquaculture scientists develop a method to breed eels in captivity, then recirculating tank systems that sterilize their effluent may constitute a sustainable method for eel aquaculture. Until then, Seafood Watch® recommends that consumers Avoid unagi.

The same year, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that listing American eels under the Endangered Species Act was "not warranted," according to National Geographic, which quoted Watts, who had petitioned the FWS earlier:

...in part because some eels have been found to spend their whole lives in salty estuaries. "The findings basically said that eels don't need freshwater habitat to survive," Watts said, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "That's like saying bald eagles don't need trees to nest in — they can use telephone poles."

So we'd advise to give the eels a break. Instead, for those who like to make their own sushi we've found a potential, more sustainable replacement in this great-looking recipe for catfish sushi. Catfish has been caught and consumed for centuries in North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, and is easier to farm-raise. Or you could just watch more Friends re-runs. [Via CNN Eatocracy]

Eric Vilas-Boas Assistant Editor Eric Vilas-Boas is a former editor at Esquire, where he managed the magazine's social media accounts, helped edit the website, and has written stories about comic books, martinis, and Ernest Hemingway's hamburger acumen.

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