Freshwater eel poaching and smuggling

On 4 December 2020, Japan's The National Diet placed a "ban [on] the importation of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) seafood.

"[5] Japan's Fisheries Agency is planning on raising the fine for smuggling of glass eels "from ¥100,000 to ¥30 million starting in 2023, in a bid to stem a source of funding of organized crime syndicates" and increasing the "maximum period of imprisonment for glass eel poaching...[from] six months to three years.

In the 2018-19 fishing season, EUROPOL seized "5 789 kg of smuggled glass eels with an estimated value of € 2 000 per kilo" under the European Union Action Plan against wildlife trafficking.

[2] 2019's Operation Fame resulted in 43 arrests and the seizure of 737 kg of glass eels.

All of the smugglers were charged with violations of the Lacey Act, and were believed to be responsible for over $7 million in illegal elver sales.