Looming Antarctic Krill Crisis As Fishing industry Grows
02.09.2010 - Flora & Fauna, Antarctic
Nature reports that Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), one of the Earth’s largest sources of protein, has come under stress as the rapid growth in krill fishing has been added to climate change as an extra threat to crustaceans. Whilst fish farms worldwide are increasingly depending on krill to feed fish, krill also feels the impact of climate change because its larvae feed on algae from the bottom of the shrinking sea ice around the Antarctic Peninsula.
In October, at the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the issue of the annual catch limit of 3.47 million tonnes in the Atlantic section of the Southern Ocean will be raised for discussion. Also under discussion will be the rising number of krill fishing ships deployed in the Southern Ocean, which includes China’s first ship in 2010.
As scientists warn of disastrous consequences and call for better monitoring and precautionary management of krill fisheries, one possible solution may be to have mandatory scientific observers on board all krill fishing vessels, but this has been met with reluctance by several ship owners.
