MIAMI — Trawling near Antarctica for krill — a crustacean central to the diet of whales and a critical buffer to global warming — has surged to a record and is fast approaching a never before reached seasonal catch limit that would trigger the unprecedented early closure of the remote fishery, The Associated Press has learned.
The fishing boom follows the failure last year of the U.S., Russia, China and two dozen other governments to approve a new management plan that would have mandated spreading out the area in which krill can be caught and creating a California-sized reserve along the environmentally sensitive Antarctic Peninsula.
In the first seven months of the 2024-25 season, krill fishing in Antarctica reached 518,568 tons, about 84% of the 620,000-ton limit that, once reached, will force the fishery to automatically close. In one hot spot, the catch through June 30 was nearly 60% higher than all of last year’s haul, according to a report from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or CCAMLR, the international organization that manages the world’s southernmost fishery.
The report, which has not been publicly released and CCAMLR said contains confidential data, was shared with The AP by someone concerned about overfishing in Antarctica on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
“The vast majority of the krill take is from an increasingly smaller area,” said Capt. Peter Hammarstedt, campaign director for conservation group Sea Shepherd Global, which this year made its third voyage to Antarctica to document the fishery. “It’s the equivalent of a hunter saying that they’re only killing 1% of the U.S.’ deer population but leaving out that all of the deer were shot in Rhode Island.”
Krill is one of the most abundant marine species in the world, with an estimated biomass of 63 million metric tons. But advances in fishing, climate change and growing demand for krill’s Omega-3 rich oil – for fishmeal, pet food and human dietary supplements — have increased pressure on the krill stocks. In the 2023-24 season, a fleet of 12 industrial trawlers from mostly Norway and China caught 498,350 tons of krill — until now the largest harvest since CCAMLR began collecting catch data in 1973.
AP journalists traveled to the icy waters around Antarctica in 2023 and observed how factory ships trawl in close proximity to whales whose numbers are still recovering from a century of industrial culling that nearly drove them to extinction.
Underscoring the competition between humans and whales, three humpback whales were found dead or seriously injured last year in the long, cylindrical nets deployed by the vessels to vacuum up the paper-clip sized crustacean.
Officials have been negotiating for years a new management plan that would balance the growing market for krill with calls for greater protection of the Antarctic Peninsula, the continent’s northernmost point and an area teeming with whales and, increasingly, tourists. Currently, less than 5% of the Southern Ocean is protected — well behind CCAMLR’s target and a United Nations goal to preserve 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
But a tentative deal fell apart at last year’s CCAMLR meeting over a last minute proposal by the United Kingdom and Australia for an even lower catch limit than the one agreed to during talks, AP reported last year. China, objecting to the persistent Western demands, then withdrew its support for the marine reserve and refused to renew the existing management system.
“The truth was it was the UK,” Matts Johansen, chief executive of Norway’s Aker BioMarine, the world’s largest supplier of krill-based products, said at the United Nations Oceans conference in June. “Just a couple days before the vote, the UK threw another suggestion and that’s when the Chinese backed off.”
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office rejected that characterization and said the British government continues to push for a krill management strategy that better safeguards Antarctic marine species and vulnerable ecosystems.
In the absence of a deal, restrictions adopted 15 years ago to spread out the catch limit expired, allowing the krill fleet to essentially fish anywhere at any time, including in smaller habitats preferred by whales and other animals such as penguins and seals.
Krill aren’t just vital to marine ecosystems. Increasingly, researchers are focusing on their role as a bulwark against climate change. One peer-reviewed study last year found that krill remove from the atmosphere and store in the ocean 20 million tons of carbon annually. That’s the equivalent of taking off the road 5 million cars every year.
CCAMLR declined to comment on the report obtained by the AP.
Ship tracking data analyzed by Global Fishing Watch at the request of the AP also showed a higher concentration of trawling. Activity in one popular fishing ground, denoted Sub-Area 48.1, appears to have more than doubled so far this season compared to the entire 2023-2024 season, according to the the U.S.-based group, which supports sustainable fishing.
Javier Arata, the executive director the Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies, whose members are responsible for 95% of the krill taken from Antarctica, said the catch limit that lapsed was always intended as an interim measure.
His group supports the creation of marine protected areas in Antarctica. But it rejects waiting for a conservation deal to adopt “ready-to-go measures” raising the quota, which he said can be much higher.
“The failure to advance management was political, not scientific,” he said.
The current fishing levels, although higher than previous limits, remain sustainable and reflect the consensus recommendation of scientists before last year’s deal fell apart, Arata added.
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This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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