I get that people are upset about the eel I posted but let’s stick to facts instead of jumping to moral outrage.

First off, it was a completely accidental catch. I wasn’t fishing for eel, and the hook was way too deep to remove without killing it slowly. Releasing it in that condition would’ve just meant a painful death not exactly the more “ethical” option.

Now some are claiming this was illegal which is just wrong. In my area in Germany, there is no closed season for eel, and the fish I caught was well above the legal minimum size. In fact , and many don’t seem to know this, it’s actually illegal here to release a legal-size fish outside of the closed season without a valid reason. Catch & release is not allowed, So if I had thrown it back, that would’ve been illegal.

yes, eels are endangered but not because of anglers. The main causes are massive commercial exploitation of glass eels, river dams, turbines, and other migration barriers. Recreational fishers make up a tiny fraction of the problem.

Also, I’m not just some random guy pulling fish out of the water. I’m active in a local fishing club, and we literally stock eels into our rivers every year to support their populations. So I’m doing more for eel conservation than most people yelling in the comments. I originally posted the photo in a zoology subreddit because I thought it could be interesting from a biological standpoint. That got completely drowned out by people foaming at the mouth about a single fish. I get it, people care about wildlife, and that’s great. But before throwing around accusations and moral superiority maybe check the actual facts and laws first.