The illegal European eel trade is thought to be worth more than a billion dollars annually. All exports of European eels, whether alive or dead, are prohibited through CITES and within European law. Because the eels cannot be bred in captivity, this means all European eels traded outside of Europe are products of trafficking, and all proceeds from their sale is illicit.

The trade in eels often involves ranching, a process which uses wild-caught juveniles raised in farms to supply the trade. Legitimate traders/businesses and wildlife traffickers often interact to harvest wild animals to supply ranches.

Baby eels (elvers) are illegally caught in Europe and trafficked to Asia in air passenger luggage in oxygenated bags. The live eels are often falsely labelled as non-endangered fish if they are declared at all. One suitcase can carry 50,000 elvers, making eels the most trafficked animal globally.

Once they reach farms in China, the eels are grown to their full size – up to a metre and a half – and can then be sold on the market for the equivalent of over USD 10 each. Trafficked European eels are regularly mislabelled and exported to Europe or to North America as packaged, processed eel products.