commercialfishing
Commercial Krill Fishing
The increase in Antarctic Krill fishing can be seen as an indirect form of whaling, because the Krill are so essential to the upkeep of the Southern Ocean’s ecosystem. There have been cases of penguins in the Antarctic starving because they couldn't find enough krill to eat.
The current Antarctic Krill catch is around 132,280 tons a year.
Stephen Nicol, a krill expert from the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania states: “Antarctic krill remains the largest exploitable stock and its exploitation also poses the greatest threat to the ecosystem.” Smaller krill are also vulnerable to ultraviolet B radiation, which kills them and their plankton food supply.
Specifically, Salmon farmers like to use the krill as fish feed because it gives the salmon flesh its pink color.
Krill fishing is confined to the South Atlantic, but is not regulated by scientists. Efforts are underway to convince commercial fishing boats to allow scientific observation, in order to limit the amount of Krill taken from the ocean.
The Antarctic Krill Conservation Project and the Krill Campaign are campaigning to require documentation and plans of krill fishing to be submitted in order to monitor the impact on the ecosystem.