Krill fishery and industrial salmon farming threaten whales in Antarctic waters
During the last few years, interest in capturing Antarctic krill has increased due to its growing use in industrial salmon farming as a feed additive to color its musculature and make it more attractive to consumers. Chile-based salmon monocultures presented an expansion of their productions of 3,600% between 2019 and 2020, and their increase could reach 1.3 million tons per year by 2023 in Patagonia and sub-Antarctic areas of the country.
By: Elsa Cabrera (Cetacean Conservation Centre) and Juan Carlos Cárdenas (Ecoceanos Centre)
June 15th 2023
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a shrimp-like crustacean distributed throughout the Southern Ocean, representing more than 90 percent of the main food source for countless marine species such as whales, penguins, seals and seabirds.
According to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters in 2016, its abundance is decreasing significantly due to climate change and increased ice melt, among other factors. The consequences for the survival of Antarctic species are worrisome considering that the Antarctic krill fishery is expanding rapidly.
Technological advances allow thousands of tons of this crustacean to be caught uninterruptedly with trawl nets. Vessels from China, Norway, South Korea, Ukraine and Chile are catching Antarctic krill in four areas established by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR for its acronym in English) on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Additionally, the absence of measures to regulate the interactions of the industrial krill fishery with whales in their main feeding areas is becoming a serious threat to the conservation of species that have not yet recovered from the impacts generated by industrial whaling.
Krill and whale fisheries, fatal interactions
In 2020 and 2021, three juvenile humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) where in three separate incidents in West South Orkney due to interactions with krill fishing vessels. These occurred in CCAMLR Area 48.2, an area that is currently considered the global epicenter of krill fishing.
Subsequently, in January 2022, researchers from Stanford University and Lindblad Expeditions recorded a congregation of more than a thousand fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) competing directly for food with four mega krill fishing vessels. The record was the largest sighting of large whales since they were decimated by commercial whaling. Two humpback whales, a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), Antarctic seals and thousands of seabirds were also recorded in the area.
The subsequent study published in February 2023 in the journal Ecology, warns that this sighting should not generate certainty about the recovery of fin whales due to the large number of threats facing the species. It also questions krill trawling operations in the Southern Ocean as to whether current conservation measures are sufficient to maintain the health of the marine ecosystem. And it asserts that the Southern Ocean no longer has the necessary amount of krill to sustain the recovery of whale populations to pre-industrial whaling levels, even without the presence of the krill fishery.
Responding to this threat, the Internacional Whaling Commission (IWC), the agency in charge of the conservation and management of cetaceans at the global level, asked the IWC Scientific Committee for a report on the incidental mortality of the three humpback whales in the Antarctic krill fishery that occurred in 2021. This is in order to understand the potential reasons for these lethal interactions and to generate recommendations. The report produced by the Scientific Committee contains mitigation measures including preventing fishing vessels from approaching feeding whale congregations, using technologies such as exclusion devices, and applying management measures such as restraint rules.
The insatiable corporate appetite for krill threatens the whales at the end of the world.
However, on March 23rd, the Sea Shepherd environmental organization’s vessel recorded two fishing vessels catching krill in close proximity to a pod of fin whales. According to the ship’s captain, Peter Hammerstedt, the two super fishing vessels made no effort to change course and even appeared as if they had deliberately headed towards the group of whales, knowing that where there are whales there is krill.
The vessels involved correspond to the super fishing vessel Shen Lan owned by the Chinese fishing firm Jiangsu Shen Lan Distant Water Fishing Co and the Antarctic Endeavor, owned by the Chilean firm Deris S.A, formerly Pesca Chile. The latter company is associated with the Icelandic fishing company Brim EHF/HF Grandi Ltd, which has historically been linked to Hvalur hf, the only company that continues to hunt fin whales in Icelandic waters.
It is also associated with Pesquera Frío Sur, owned by the Del Rio family, and the Japanese transnational Nippon Suissan América Latina S.A. (Nissui Group), owner of Pesquera Emdepes, which operates in the Patagonian and sub-Antarctic regions of Chile.
In 2014 Deris S.A. acquired the fishing assets, including vessels, of the bankrupt company Pesca Chile, which had been owned by the controversial company PescaNova. It currently owns three fishing vessels that catch and process krill in Antarctic waters and five vessels that catch and freeze demersal species such as deep sea cod, southern and tail hake and spotted cojinoba, which record interactions with marine mammals such as sperm whales and killer whales during their operations in Chilean southern waters.
It should be noted that the captures and production of Antarctic krill oil carried out by Deris S.A. have environmental certification delivered by Friends of the Sea (FoS) and that their quality manager, Enrique Gutiérrez, pointed out in 2019 that «sustainability is a fundamental element for our business.» However, in 2021 Chilean organizations Centro Ecoceanos Centre y Cetacean Conservation Centre denounced the certifying company FoS for promoting fraudulent certification and the promotion of the «Whale Safe» seal, intended for use by shipping companies transporting industrially farmed salmon (well-boats).
Uncertain future for Antarctic whales
During the last few years, interest in capturing Antarctic krill has increased due to its growing use in industrial salmon farming as a feed additive to color its musculature and make it more attractive to consumers. Chile-based salmon monocultures presented an expansion of their productions of 3,600% between 2019 and 2020, and their increase could reach 1.3 million tons per year by 2023 in Patagonia and sub-Antarctic areas of the country.
While the industrial Antarctic krill fishery continues to increase, several studies reveal that its abundance continues to decline since the closure of commercial whaling, probably due to the loss of nutrient recycling services of the whales caught. Concern about the arrival of more ships in this Antarctic fishery could lead to exceeding the limit established by CCAMLR of 620,000 tons per year, or 2% of the total Antarctic krill stock. According to the Geophysical Research Letter study, this is occurring at a time when the warming of southern waters and the melting of Antarctic ice could decrease the Antarctic krill stock by 30% by the end of the century.
The current scenario of increasing whale densities and krill fishing effort will mean that, unless effective conservation measures are adopted, interactions between whales and industrial krill fishing operations, including bycatch and direct competition, will continue to intensify.
Notes:
- Krill and whales have a fundamental role in the health and functioning of the marine ecosystem, fertilizing the ocean and sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2). In 2009, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) banned the capture of krill within the Pacific Coast EEZ due to the importance of this crustacean to the marine ecosystem.
- The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is an international organization responsible for the conservation and management of the marine resources of the Southern Ocean, through measures aimed at regulating fishing in the Antarctic region. Its objectives are to ensure the sustainable exploitation of Antarctic marine resources and the preservation of their biodiversity.
