WAYS to halt the decline in the population of eels in the Severn and other British and European rivers were under the microscope at a meeting of fisheries experts in France this week.

Dr Gordon McGlone, chief executive officer of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, joined rivers and fisheries experts on Tuesday to explore a major river conservation programme taking place in the Selune Valley in Normandy.

The visit is part of a campaign by the Sustainable Eel Group to draw attention to structures such as tidal gates, flap valves and weirs which prevent eels from reaching their home rivers.

Dr McGlone said he believed Gloucestershire would lose its elvers and silver eels forever unless the UK and European countries took action.

"This once common fish is now in such decline that commercial fisheries are in danger" he said.

In a statement on Monday the Wildlife Trust said it was playing its part in local action by working with the Environment Agency on habitat schemes in the Severn Vale and Cotswold rivers.

"We need to recognise that the engineering that was once looked on as clever ways to deal with agricultural drainage and flooding now look crude and clumsy," said Dr McGlone.

"It is not only the eel that is in serious trouble. Salmon is now a scarce fish on the Wye and Severn. Also worrying is the loss and probable extinction of two fish, the twaite and allis shad, from Severn rivers. We are failing future generations and conserving the eel represents a challenge we must not duck."