FOR centuries, jellied eels was the iconic dish of London’s East End.

A staple of the capital’s diet, the slippery creatures were also once a lucrative trade for Hampshire’s fisherman.

But eels could soon vanish from the county’s famous freshwater rivers, the Environment Agency (EA) warned last night.

The number entering rivers has crashed by up to 95 per cent in recent decades.

In a bid to halt the decline, fishing for juvenile eels, known as elvers, pictured, has been banned until February next year.

Elvers can fetch huge sums on the black market and anyone caught breaking the ban could be slapped with a £50,000 fine.

The reason for their disappearance remains a mystery. Poaching, climate change and a worm-like parasite have all been blamed.

In Hampshire, the EA has tried to boost eel population by installing fish passes designed to allow eels to navigate past weirs and locks.

Sally Chadwick, fisheries technical specialist for the EA, said: “If eel population numbers don’t improve soon we could reach a critical point of no return and face the end of this species living in our waters and possibly global extinction.”

The fishing ban was welcomed by Jolyon Chesworth, marine conservation manager at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

“They are one of our most mysterious fish and nobody knows what has happened to the population,” he said.

“We have to do everything we can to help them.”

However, it came as a surprise to Peter Beale, manager at Broadlands Lake, who revealed he had a “plentiful supply” swimming in his catchand- release lake.

“You can literally look in the lake on most days and see them,” he said.

Eels start life as larvae in the Sargasso Sea, some 4,000 miles away in the North Atlantic Ocean. They reach our shores by drifting on currents before migrating upstream to grow in rivers and lakes.

Few eel fishermen remain in Hampshire and one of the last remnants of the fishery is a restored eel house near Alresford.

The building dates back to the early 19th century and was used to trap eels for more than 150 years. It fell into disrepair after the industry collapsed in the 1970s.

Restoration work commenced four years ago and the New Alresford Town Trust has raised £40,000 to restore the structure to its former glory.

Trust co-chairman Robin Atkins said the house would be used to trap and tag eels to help scientists learn more about the creature’s movements.

The River Test Smokery, near Stockbridge, is one of the few local businesses to still offer eels, however its stocks are imported from Holland and sold to upmarket hotels.

“It’s horrifically expensive, but very nice,”

manager Gary Donahue said.

“They have a porklike texture and the taste is somewhere between fish and chicken.”