Glass Eel Trafficking A Green Cultural Criminology Perspective

Introduction to Illegal Wildlife Trade and Green Criminology. 2. Glass Eel Trafficking and the European Eel Decline. 3. Smuggling Traditions, Culture, and Eel Exploitation. 4. The Global Eel Economy, Trade, and Consumer Demand. 5. Regulating European Eels: Law, Conservation, and Criminalization. 6. Enforcement Politics and Operation Eel in Europe. 7. Culture and the Making of Wildlife Trafficking.

Biography

Mònica Pons-Hernández is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bergen (Norway), specialising in green criminology. Her research focuses on environmental harm, state-corporate crime, and the overexploitation of marine species, with particular attention to wildlife trafficking. She holds a PhD in Law from Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Catalonia) and has published extensively on environmental crime, including research on the illegal trade in European eels. She is the recipient of several academic awards, including the Extraordinary Doctoral Award and prizes from the American Society of Criminology and the Spanish Society of Criminological Research.

Glass Eel Trafficking: A Green Cultural Criminology Perspective is a book about the European eel—a fascinating species with one of the most complex life cycles in the animal kingdom. It is a book about wildlife trade and trafficking, as well as broader harms to nonhuman animals. But it is really a book of stories: stories about culture (heritage, identity, meaning, traditions—and belonging); stories about economics or “eelconomics” (dynamics, incentives, structures, systems—from local livelihoods to global supply chains); stories about law and il/legality—authority, frameworks, inconsistencies, and questions of legitimacy; stories about politics (ambivalence, priorities) and practicalities (the challenges of enforcing environmental law); and stories about responsibility in the face of biological vulnerability and economic decline. Mònica Pons Hernández weaves all of these stories together in a rich and profound narrative—one that is remarkable for its layers of nuance and respectful consideration of multiple perspectives.

Avi Brisman, Professor, Eastern Kentucky University

In the world of ‘wildlife’, it is the cute and charismatic that attract attention and affection. But what about important but overlooked species? This original and comprehensive study of the global trade in European eels draws on green cultural criminology to show how shared values and social practices shape markets, laws, and political responses. This insightful contribution to contemporary green criminology makes a compelling call to rethink how we address wildlife trafficking.

Nigel South, Emeritus Professor, Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex.

 

In this masterfully crafted book, Pons-Hernández offers a distinctive lens on glass eel trafficking by framing it as a phenomenon shaped by “cultural, economic, legal, and political dynamics.” By focusing on the European eel, the book challenges dominant charisma-driven conservation biases and highlights the importance of examining less visible species. It shows that eel trafficking is not simply an illegal market, but one deeply embedded in cultural traditions and local identities. By integrating cultural, economic, legal, and political dimensions, Pons-Hernández demonstrates how these forces interact and mutually reinforce one another, highlighting why enforcement efforts are likely to remain limited if these dynamics are overlooked. In doing so, the book provides a more grounded understanding of why this form of wildlife trafficking persists and why addressing it requires more than enforcement alone. For those seeking a more comprehensive understanding of the illegal wildlife trade, this book is essential reading.

Gohar Petrossian, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY.