Drugs from Glastonbury festival-goers could be impacting endangered eels - The Natural History Museum

Hyperactive eels

The European eel was once common in most rivers across the UK. But over the last few decades their numbers have tumbled, declining by over 95%.

The eel's migratory lifecycle makes them particularly vulnerable. While it is still not even fully known how the eels manage their epic journey, adults will leave rivers from across Europe and travel to the Sargasso Sea off the eastern coast of the USA.

Here, they mate and lay their eggs before dying. The eggs then hatch, and the young eels will navigate their way all the way back across the Atlantic, despite never having done this trip before. It is at this point that they are most at risk.

Historically, huge numbers of young glass eels were harvested as they tried to make their way up rivers. Today, while the legal trade is now much smaller and regulated, the illegal trade is in fact the largest wildlife crime in Europe, as million of baby eels are caught and smuggled to Asia.

For those that do survive the return journey, many now find rivers blocked by dams and weirs. It seems that, in some populations at least, European eels are now also having to deal with being bathed in illegal drugs which is thought to impact this extraordinary lifecycle.

Previous studies have found that small levels of cocaine in waterways can cause European eels in a laboratory setting to become hyperactive. There was also evidence that it can lead to muscle wastage, something which could have a significant effect on their epic journey as adults.

This new study found that following Glastonbury Festival, the levels of cocaine detected in the water downstream was at levels high enough to potentially cause a similar effect for the native fish.   

Dr Christian Dunn, the lead author of the paper, says, 'Our main concern is the environmental impact. This study identifies that drugs are being released at levels high enough to disrupt the lifecycle of the European eel, potentially derailing conservation efforts to protect this endangered species.

'Education is essential for environmental issues, just as people have been made aware of the problems of plastic pollution, and Glastonbury have made great efforts to become plastic-free. We also need to raise awareness around drug and pharmaceutical waste – they are hidden yet potentially devastating pollutants.'

The researchers recommend creating reedbeds as a natural filtration system, in which the wetlands help to treat any potential wastewater and contaminants leaching from the festival. 

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