BILLION DOLLAR BABIES

Once abundant, eels are now threatened worldwide by environmental change and overfishing. Prized as a delicacy, especially in Asia, they fetch high prices, fuelling a lucrative global trade. The life cycle of the eel is as mysterious as it is remarkable. Undergoing multiple metamorphoses, eels travel tens of thousands of kilometres through rivers and oceans, reproducing only once in their lifetime. Like the American eel, the European eel spawns in the waters off Florida. Carried by the Gulf Stream, its larvae drift across the Atlantic for three years before reaching Europe as transparent glass eels. Within Europe, eel fishing is strictly regulated and export is banned. But globally, the trade is centred in Asia: eel farming – the fattening of the eels – takes place primarily in China, where vast facilities rely on supplies of wild-caught glass eels, since breeding in captivity is still not possible. Smuggling has become a highly profitable enterprise, and in recent years, glass eel fishing has become especially important in the Caribbean. This investigative documentary exposes the often brutal trade in glass eels – revealing how these sought-after young fish become an international commodity and tracing those who profit most from the illegal trade.