EU ready to lift ban on baby eel exports to Asia

(BRUSSELS) - European fishing regulators on Friday said they were ready to lift a ban on exports of baby eels much prized in China and Japan, triggering the end of a four-day French port blockade.

Fishermen told AFP in the Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire that they were ending four days of conflict and taking to the sea again, having staged symbolic action complaining at export obstacles and falling prices.

In Brussels, the spokesman for the European Union's agriculture commissioner, said revised terms on a deal meeting the eel fishing industry's needs had been received from France on Friday.

"In principle, we have agreed on the revised plan, as long as France makes certain minor changes which we anticipate they will," spokesman Michael Mann said.

"It's not a done deal yet, and at the moment they can't export, but the wheels are in motion and we expect to adopt the new proposals over the coming days."

The price for a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of baby eels, also considered a delicacy closer to home in Spain, has dropped from 300 euros (420 dollars) to nearer 200 euros, the fishermen say.

French fisherman Thierry Quemener said the "assurance" from Brussels that exports can shortly resume was enough for the boats to "take to the sea again."