Reply to: Tuvikene et al. The inadequacies of estimating silver eel escapement by studying yellow eels caught in the coastal sea far away from the river mouth. A comment on Rohtla et al. (2021)

Abstract

Abstract Restocking European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is generally considered as a conservation action, but its true conservation value remains unknown and is currently debated over. Estimation of the biomass of escaping silver eels is one way to partially measure the success of restocking. Tuvikene et al. in a comment to Rohtla et al. criticize the data that were used to reach the conclusion that eel conservation goals in a fully restocked eel management unit in Estonia are not being met. While acknowledging some potential and unavoidable sampling biases in our study that need to be addressed in the future, we stand by our general conclusions.