The Pew Environment Group is calling on the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to better manage the Southern Ocean krill fishery and require that scientific observers be stationed on every krill fishing vessel.
The plea comes as delegates from 30-plus countries gather in Hobart, Tasmania, for CCAMLR’s annual meeting, which kicked off on Monday and runs through 6 November.
In a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Pew urged CCAMLR to geographically spread out the Southern Ocean krill harvest to protect the shrimp-like crustacean’s predators, including whales, penguins and seals.
“Prominent scientists from CCAMLR’s scientific committee recently acknowledged that the concentration of the krill fishery in a few small areas around the Antarctic peninsula may endanger krill predators,” said Gerald Leape, a Pew senior officer and head of the Antarctic Krill Conservation Project.
“Based on CCAMLR’s own data, it is critical that the commission takes precautionary measures to spread out krill fishing in both area and time to reduce the overlap of the fishery with the foraging range of key land and marine predators,” he added.
Krill, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, is used mostly in fish feed and dietary supplements.
In July, the United States banned krill fishing in the Pacific within 200 miles of California, Oregon and Washington.
