# The billion-euro trade driving Europe's eels to extinction

https://mins.news/en/item/51002

- DW, 2026-09-09 08:36 UTC
- World
- Original: https://www.dw.com/en/the-billion-euro-trade-driving-europe-s-eels-to-extinction/a-78523145?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

> Traffickers smuggle millions of critically endangered European eels across continents by air or through legal loopholes, feeding a lucrative trade that can send glass eels to €9,000 per kilogram. Their population has fallen by about 95% since the 1980s, while enforcement agencies target organized networks profiting from demand in Asia.