What can eels teach us about our planet?

Planetary Eel, the new ERC Synergy project at ZRC SAZU

Published on: November 14, 2025

Planetary Eel (full title: Planetary Anthropology and Interspecies Nurture: A Political Ontology of Human–Eel Relations) is one of the recently granted ERC (European Research Council) Synergy projects that will start in 2026. The project is led by Vanessa Grotti and Marc Brightman, both from the University of Bologna; Tomatoa Bambridge from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); and Stanislav Roudavski from the University of Melbourne. The participating researchers are also Nataša Gregorič Bon and Urša Kanjir, both from the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies ZRC SAZU.

Two boats on Vjosa river, Greece — The Vjosa River, which springs in Epirus in north-western Greece, flows through southern Albania and has its delta to the Adriatic Sea, one of the important habitats of the eel *Anguilla Anguilla*.

What can eels teach us about our planet and the many challenges of its habitability? Quite a great deal, as they are among the world's most endangered species due to human- and capital-driven transformations of their natural habitats. As a result of overfishing, trafficking, ecosystems deterioration, pollution, and warming seas, eel populations have declined drastically. Consequently, in line with rising consumer demand, their price has increased – they are now among the most heavily traded species.

"For millennia, the draining of wetlands and the building of canals have been tools of empires to control rivers and wetlands and their human and non-human inhabitants. The decline of eels follows the history of human inequality and colonialism, as well as the exclusion of marginalised communities and, ultimately, the neglect of the history of nature itself," explain the group of PLANETARY EEL researchers.

The Planetary Eel project brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines – anthropology, life sciences, environmental studies, law, and ecocentric and multispecies designs – as only a multidisciplinary perspective can truly explore how environmental changes, commercial fishing, aquaculture, and trade can affect the lives of both eels and humans.

Ell traps — The fishing tradition along the banks of the Vjosa River

The Planetary Eel project seeks to understand the interrelation between humans and nature by focusing on eels as a core agent of research and designing environments of cohabitation between humans and non-humans. In this context, eels can be an index of environmental pollution and guides showing the way towards sustainable change. Where non-human life is endangered, human well-being also declines; hence, the project emphasises human-eel interrelations that can produce a tangible vision of the planetary.