Aim of EASEC

Humans have been attracted to eels since prehistoric times.

There is a famous story about an ancient Greek naturalist, Aristotle, pondering the mystery-shrouded reproduction of eels. Since then, many studies on mysterious eels have been conducted, and humans have also been captivated by their fascinating taste, whether grilled, smoked, or cooked in other ways. Due to our close proximity to eels, and the deep relationship we have developed with them, references to eels can be found in languages, arts, beliefs, and folk tales.

However, in recent years, the standing stock of eels has decreased. In 1998, eel researchers lanced the East Asia Eel Resource Consortium to conserve eels, in cooperation with people involved in the eel industries. In addition, we have conducted various activities, such as holding meetings and study conferences for exchanging information on eel resources between the members in the Consortium.

However, for further development of eel research, we dissolved the East Asia Eel Resource Consortium, and in its place, launched the East Asia Eel Society.

The aim of the East Asia Eel Society is to contribute to the development of eel research in a wide variety of fields, such as natural science, humanities, and social sciences, thereby aiming at a comprehensive understanding of eels along with the establishment of “Eel Science,” which is the comprehensive study of eels. In addition, we aim at spreading the latest knowledge on eels obtained from the research results to our society. For achieving this aim, we conduct necessary activities, such as holding annual meetings and academic seminars in addition to publishing academic journals.

We expect that our activities will lead to the development of Eel Science and conservation of eels over hundreds of years.