Antarctic Krill Fishery Sees Unprecedented Early Closure

Officials have shut down the Antarctic krill fishing season early for the first time ever.

In an effort to protect marine wildlife, all krill fishing operations in the region were shut down in August after the industry exceeded a 620,000-ton limit, well in advance of an anticipated closure in December, the Associated Press first reported.

The market for Antarctic krill products has experienced substantial growth in recent years, as interest in omega-3 supplements sourced from krill continues to boom, alongside demand for krill ingredients for animal feed.

Over the years, the Antarctic krill fishery has been reputed for its sustainability endorsements. But breakdowns in policymaking from the international Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) have drawn criticism from other advocacy groups.

CCAMLR, which includes 27 member states, establishes multinational agreements to spread out where trawling activity occurs, so that vessels don’t target krill “hot spots,” which serve as the primary foraging grounds of whales, penguins, and seals. In 2024, negotiations between member states broke down during plans to establish a protected area roughly the size of California.

Sustainability Orgs Push CCAMLR

Sustainability organizations slammed the member states of CCAMLR for the impasse.

“CCAMLR member states are not meeting their obligation to protect marine ecosystems of the Antarctic Peninsula, an area already under stress from rapid global warming,” said Claire Christian, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. “When CCAMLR meets in October, the members must advance critical protections for the Antarctic Peninsula through the creation of new krill fishery management measures and the adoption of the Domain 1 Marine Protected Area.”

“The entire permitted catch was taken in a highly concentrated area, leaving the Southern Ocean’s most iconic predators with far less to feed on,” said Johnny Briggs, director of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy.

“This is a historic moment, as it is the first time the trigger level has been reached,” said Horacio Werner, executive director of Agenda Antártica. “We are convinced that CCAMLR has the necessary tools to manage the krill fishery in a way that minimizes the impact on krill and its predators. It is imperative to implement a new management system that distributes catch limits on a smaller scale and is accompanied by robust ecosystem monitoring.”

A ‘Resilient’ Fishery

Pål Skogrand, chief policy officer at Aker Qrill Company, a spin-off of Aker BioMarine that supplies krill products for aquaculture and pet nutrition, noted that the Antarctic krill fishery takes more conservation precautions than almost any in the world, even in the absence of an established protected area.

“The early closure was triggered when the 620,000 metric ton catch limit was reached, which constitutes less than 1% of the estimated krill biomass in the fishery area. All vessels stopped fishing, which demonstrates that the CCAMLR management ecosystem is functioning as intended,” Skogrand said. “Importantly, fishing activity this season was geographically spread out — up to 450 kilometers between vessels — and voluntary 30-40 kilometer buffer zones around penguin colonies were maintained, covering about 74,000 kilometers in the Antarctic Peninsula.”

Aker remains active in support of CCAMLR adopting a marine protected area around the peninsula, along with revisions to krill fishery management that allow for growth, Skogrand said.

“Krill fishing in the Southern Ocean is already among the most precautionary in the world,” he said. “CCAMLR’s ecosystem management approach — integrated ongoing biomass surveys, predator monitoring, and voluntary industry measures — means the fishery is resilient and well-positioned to further develop and continue utilizing the resource that krill represents.”