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Endangered eels make Gloucestershire classroom their home

Whitminster Primary students will be sharing their classroom with more than 100 eels for the next six weeks.

Following the release to a tank in their classroom this week, students will be looking after these young eels, known as elvers, whilst they learn about this critically endangered species. In the past 40 years, European eels have declined by over 90%, as a result of habitat loss, climate change, and illegal fishing.

Over the next six weeks the elvers will grow, before they are released into the River Frome later in the summer. As well as teaching students about this elusive species, this project will give the young eels a headstart.

Whitminster primary students next to their tank of eels

All eyes were on the tank when the elvers were released to their new temporary home, and students each got a chance to take a close up look.

The elvers were introduced by Cotswold Canals Connected (CCC), a collaborative project between Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Stroud District Council and Cotswold Canals Trust. The Eels in the Classroom project is being run by Bristol Avon Rivers Trust and the Sustainable Eel Group Group. The initiative is linking schools across the country with the river conservation project.

Whitminster primary students next to their tank of eels

The students were really intrigued by the elvers and were keen to ask questions about why eels are endangered, as well as using their imaginations to ask questions like “how do they sleep?”

CCC will link the Stroudwater Navigation to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, whilst engaging with local people and communities. Including getting young minds like these students face to face and engaged with wildlife conservation and restoration.

Students will see the elvers each day in their classroom and will be feeding them and keeping the tank clean to nurture the elvers as they grow, with help from their teachers and CCC.

Notes to editors

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) works closely with local communities, landowners and partners to deliver much-needed conservation work across more than 1000 hectares of nature reserves, and within the wider landscape of Gloucestershire. This vital work safeguards these remaining special wild places and drives nature’s recovery, working towards a future where the countryside thrives once more with wildlife, wildflowers, trees, butterflies, insects and animals

The charity also delivers a vast range of engagement activities and projects across the county, as well as providing free public access to its nature reserves, enabling people from all backgrounds to spend time outdoors and get closer to nature.

Cotswold Canals Connected (CCC) The Cotswold Canals Connected Project will link the Stroudwater Navigation from The Ocean Railway Bridge at Stonehouse to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at Walk Bridge near Saul Junction. The Project is approximately 4 miles long consisting of 3 miles of defunct navigation and 1 mile of navigation (the “missing mile”) that will be created from arable and pasture land between Eastington and the A38.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are a lead delivery partner along with Stroud District Council and Cotswold Canals Trust. Other delivery partners include Stroud Valleys Project and the Canal & River Trust.

Eels in the Classroom is a project ran by the Sustainable Eel Group and Bristol Avon Rivers Trust, engaging schools across the country with European eels and river restoration.

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