The Sargasso Sea Commission notes that endangered species of eels go to the sea to breed, while whales – most notably sperm and humpbacks – migrate through it, as do tuna and other types of fish.

They live in the pond across the street from my house, but guess where they—and every other American eel—were born? In a warm womb a few thousand miles away called the Sargasso Sea.

The migratory eel makes its way out from the Baltic Sea to the Sargasso Sea to spawn in the autumn. In the absence of a complete fishery closure it is important that the fishing ban is applied in the ...