A database of eels and their freshwater habitats in southwestern Europe

The European eel stock (Anguilla anguilla) is outside safe biological limits. A range-wide stock assessment requires the creation and standardisation of databases that include information on eels and their habitats in different countries throughout their distribution range. The SUDOANG 1.0.4 database compiles standardised data on river courses in France and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). Using GIS tools, information on water surface and on other potential aquatic habitats surrounding each river segment has been collected. This common river network provides tools to quickly accumulate information along the river or along the natural path of migration from/to the sea. The database also compiles information on the surface of other habitats, human pressures (including 106400 obstacles), and provides eel abundance and biometric estimations derived from the Eel Density Analysis (EDA) model at the river reach scale for the reference year 2015. The river network supports ecological assessment of the eel habitats, and should also be useful for studies on other migratory species.