150,000 Eel Fry Released into Xincheng River in Yilan

Reporter Chen Ziying / Comprehensive Report

With clean rivers and high water quality, the Fisheries Agency and Yilan County Government collaborated to obtain Japanese eel fry. On April 1, County Magistrate Lin Congxian and elementary school students released 150,000 eel fry into Xincheng River, aiming to instill environmental conservation values in children.


▲ Yilan’s clean rivers and high water quality were on display as 150,000 eel fry were released yesterday. (Photo / Provided by Yilan County Fisheries Management Office)

Fishermen traditionally target Japanese eel fry during the winter fishing season due to their high market value. Sometimes, when accidentally catching other eel species, they discard them in ditches or on shores for convenience, leading to resource wastage.

The Yilan County Government stated that starting last year, it began purchasing bass eel fry from fishermen during the eel fry fishing season and nurturing them for three months. Once the transparent glass eels metamorphose into black, slender elvers, they are released back into streams to grow naturally. Last year, the Fisheries Agency seized 250,000 smuggled white eel fry during a patrol in Su’ao, of which 150,000 were sent to Yilan County and released yesterday.

Additionally, the Yilan County Government noted that to protect the full life cycle of eels, it has built fish ladders at the Xincheng River sediment dam to facilitate fish migration. It also pioneered a conservation measure banning the capture of eels over 8 cm in length across all rivers in the county.