From a deserted riverbank, two steel boats launch themselves onto the Loire, loaded with a mountain of boxes. Inside, 500 kg of baby eels, fished in the coastal rivers of Loire-Atlantique and Vendée, and transported by refrigerated lorry to the areas defined as the most favourable for their growth. Threatened with extinction, this eel spawn is the subject of a long-term repopulation programme. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES