On the plus side, the installation of an elver ladder at the Wairua power station was part of a hapu initiative, he said.
Present North Island total allowable commercial catch is 347 tonnes of shortfin eels and 82 tonnes of longfins, while South Island quota for both species combined is 421 tonnes.
The estimated value of the commercial eel fishery is $17million annually, with Korea the main market, followed by Belgium and Germany.
Dr Wright's recommendation went to Primary Industry Minister Nathan Guy just before Christmas and is expected to be a key factor when he considers eel fishing quotas early this year.
The Ministry of Primary Industries got three international experts to monitor eels after Dr Wright reported on the status of longfin eels last April. The panel last month concluded there was a high probability the longfin eel population had been substantially reduced.
Longfin eels can grow up to two metres long, weigh more than 25kg and live more than a century.
They are New Zealand's top freshwater predator, using their sense of smell - equal to a bloodhound's - to locate prey.
At the end of their long lives, longfin eels leave their freshwater homes to journey north through the Pacific to breed somewhere near Fiji.
The eggs hatch into larvae that drift on ocean currents back to New Zealand where the cycle of life continues, as they turn into tiny "glass eels" and begin to swim up rivers and streams.
Glass eels become elvers which continue to swim upstream until they find a place to stay and grow for many years until heeding the call to breed.
Dr Wright said it would be a tragedy if the survival of the species was put at risk.
"The commercial value of this fishery is very small compared with the cultural and biodiversity value of these giants of the waterways."