Hiring an Unagi Chef: Eel Skills, Sourcing and CITES Rules

Eel restaurants in Japan are specialists. The chef who splits, skewers and grills eel over charcoal usually does nothing else, and the trade has its own long apprenticeship. Abroad, most Japanese restaurants serve unagi as one item among many, often from pre-grilled frozen product. If you want eel to be the reason people come, you need a different hire, and a chef who understands not only the cooking but where the eel comes from and what the rules allow. This guide covers both.

1. Unagi is its own trade

Japan's eel cooks have a saying: 串打ち三年、裂き八年、焼き一生. Three years to learn skewering, eight to learn splitting, a lifetime to learn grilling. It is a saying, not a curriculum, but it tells you how the trade sees itself. The core skills:

• Splitting (saki). Opening a live or freshly killed eel cleanly in one pass. The Kantō style traditionally splits along the back, the Kansai style along the belly.
• Skewering (kushi-uchi). Placing bamboo skewers so the fillet stays flat and cooks evenly.
• Steaming or not. The Kantō style usually grills, steams and grills again, which gives a soft texture. The Kansai style grills without steaming, for a crisper result. A chef will be trained in one and may have strong views.
• Grilling and tare. Managing charcoal heat and basting with tare, often a sauce the house keeps and builds over time.
• Rice and service. Unaju and unadon depend on the rice as much as the eel.

For a head chef who covers eel alongside other Japanese dishes, see hiring a kaiseki chef or hiring an izakaya chef. This article is for restaurants where eel is the centre.

2. Do you need a specialist?

Working from live eel also depends on whether you can legally obtain and hold live eel where you are, and on what your health department will allow. Check both before you recruit.

3. Species, supply and the rules your chef must know

An unagi chef abroad buys eel from a supply chain that crosses borders and species. Japan's Fisheries Agency sets out the background in a July 2026 briefing:

• Species. There are 19 species and subspecies of Anguilla. Four are widely eaten: Japanese eel, American eel, European eel and the shortfin (bicolor) eel.
• Conservation status. In June 2014 the IUCN listed the Japanese eel as Endangered and the shortfin eel as Near Threatened, and in November 2014 listed the American eel as Endangered. The European eel was already listed as Critically Endangered.
• Japan's own supply. Japan's eel supply was 63,598 tonnes in 2025, of which imports were 45,987 tonnes and domestic farming 17,757 tonnes. At its peak in 2000 supply was 158,094 tonnes. Imported adult and processed eel includes Japanese eel and, in recent years, American eel.
• Glass eel traceability in Japan. Japan made glass eel fishing subject to prefectural governor licences with stronger penalties in December 2023, and applied its law on proper distribution of marine products to glass eels from December 2025, to tackle unreported catch.

What this means for your chef: they should be able to tell you which species your supplier sells, where it was farmed, and what documents come with it. A chef who has only ever bought "unagi" without asking is a risk, particularly in Europe.

4. CITES and the 2025 vote

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES):

• European eel is on Appendix II. It was listed in 2007 and trade controls took effect in 2009. Appendix II trade requires an export permit from the exporting country's authority. According to Japan's Fisheries Agency, the EU currently does not issue export permits for European eel, which in effect bans its export.
• The proposal to list all eels was rejected. In June 2025 the EU and Panama proposed listing every Anguilla species, including Japanese eel, on Appendix II. At the 20th Conference of the Parties (CoP20), Committee I voted by secret ballot on 27 November 2025: 35 in favour, 100 against, 8 abstentions, out of 135 countries voting. The plenary confirmed the rejection on 4 December 2025. A separate resolution on the trade, conservation and management of Anguilla species was adopted by consensus.

So, as of September 2026, European eel is on Appendix II and the attempt to add Japanese eel and the other species failed. The vote shows that pressure on all eel species remains, and the question may return at a future conference. A restaurant building its identity on eel should have a sourcing policy it can defend to guests and inspectors, and a chef who can explain it.

For the purchasing role in a larger restaurant, see hiring a fish buyer.

5. Screening an unagi chef

1. Training history. Where did they train, for how long, and in which style (Kantō or Kansai)? Specialist eel restaurants in Japan are the deepest pool; general Japanese kitchens produce cooks who can grill eel but may not split it.
2. A practical test. If you plan to work from whole eel, the test must include splitting and skewering. If you use prepared fillets, test grilling, glazing and the rice. Taste their tare.
3. Charcoal and ventilation. Eel is grilled over charcoal and produces heavy smoke from dripping fat and tare. The building and fire rules are the same as for yakitori. See hiring a yakitori chef before you commit to live fire.
4. Sourcing knowledge. Species, suppliers, documents, as above.
5. Consistency. An unagi restaurant sells one dish many times. Ask how they keep the thousandth portion the same as the first.

If the chef is in Japan, see testing chef skills remotely and where Japanese chefs look for jobs abroad.

6. Pay and visa notes

No official statistics break out unagi chefs. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics median for Chefs and Head Cooks was $62,470 in May 2025, with the 90th percentile at $98,560. A true eel specialist who leads the restaurant belongs in that group, and scarcity pushes the price up. See sushi chef salary by country for country context.

Visa systems do not have a category for eel specialists. The chef's duties and pay decide whether they count as a chef or a cook. A specialist with national recognition may have options others do not. See visa sponsorship for a Japanese chef and O-1 visas for chefs.

General information, not legal advice. CITES listings, wildlife trade rules and food safety rules change and differ by country; the facts here are quoted from the official sources below as of September 2026. Check import and wildlife trade requirements with the authority where you operate before buying eel.