us stopped trading. Glass eels that had been caught and stored by competitors for several weeks had to be released back into the rivers. For us, this was a golden opportunity to strengthen our core business on supplying glass eels for restocking projects in the former Eastern Bloc countries. During this decade, it was possible to supply millions of low-cost glass eels for restocking projects. There were during these times only limited air services available,
and as a result we pioneered the transport of glass eels over huge distances by truck. The concept of refrigeration and ammonia absorption, not to mention a fully automatic system, were novel at that time. We made deliveries from the UK to just short of Moscow, and as far as the Black Sea. Very often we were working in a hostile environment: either very hot or freezing cold, roads were rudimentary and bridges for river crossings non-existent.
In the 1980's four or five first generations eel farms were built in the UK. We were involved with one of the first; at a nuclear Power Station on the Severn Estuary. There were some very significant technical problems to overcome. For a start the feed we were using produced virtually no growth and consequently survival was low. The UK efforts at eel farming lasted about a decade and by then there was a new second generation of more efficient farms in the Netherlands and Denmark. By the mid 1980's, economic growth in Eastern Europe slowed, financial support for restocking diminished and, finally, with the establishment of a new political order the restocking market disintegrated. Between 1983 and 1984 there was a dramatic fall in the catches of glass eels - more than 60% in the one season, and the catches have not recovered since then. Prices started to increase and the need to transport between 1500 to
