Scientists raise alarm on early fisheries closure

Antarctic krill fishery closes early for second consecutive year, intensifying calls for Southern Ocean protection

For the second year running and just one day after World Krill Day, the Antarctic krill fishery has been shut down early, a stark warning sign that the management of one of the world's largest and fastest-growing fisheries urgently needs to be reformed.

Antarctic scientists meeting at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Open Science Conference (ASOC) report that the fishery officially closed on August 12, after vessels reached the trigger catch limit of 620,000 tonnes, ending the season months ahead of schedule for the second year running. 

 Krill are the foundation of the Southern Ocean food web, sustaining penguins, whales, seals and countless other Antarctic species. Yet fishing effort has become increasingly concentrated around the Antarctic Peninsula, where wildlife depends on dense krill aggregations during critical breeding and feeding periods.

The closure also comes as formal objections lodged by ASOC and WWF to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) recertification of the fishery remain under consideration, renewing scrutiny of claims that the fishery represents a global model of sustainable fishing.

“Two consecutive early closures should be a wake-up call for everyone who cares about the future of Antarctica,” said José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica and Antarctica2030 Chair. “This is not simply about reaching a catch limit. It is about whether the international community is managing human activities in one of Earth’s last great wildernesses with the level of precaution that science demands. Antarctica is a global commons. We cannot continue short-term exploitation while the governance system struggles to keep pace with accelerating ecological change.”

Although the overall catch remains a relatively low percentage of the overall biomass, concentrating fishing effort in key predator foraging areas reduces local prey availability, increasing the distance predators must travel to obtain sufficient food for species already under intensified stress from a changing climate.

MSC and industry representatives have argued that the fishery remains sustainable because total catches represent only a small proportion of estimated overall krill biomass. But, according to scientists, the concern is not simply how much krill is harvested, but where harvesting occurs. Penguins, whales and seals depend on dense local concentrations of krill around breeding colonies rather than biomass distributed across the Southern Ocean.

Scientists also caution that current biomass estimates rely on surveys undertaken before unprecedented Antarctic sea-ice loss and the rapid climate-driven changes now transforming Southern Ocean ecosystems. Significant uncertainties remain regarding krill abundance, distribution and the cumulative impacts of climate change and industrial harvesting.

“The whole point of certification is to give consumers confidence that they’re part of the solution and not the problem,” said Zac Goldsmith, former UK Environment Secretary and Antarctica2030 Champion. “When the management system’s own scientific advisers acknowledge the system is falling far short, that should prompt more, not less scrutiny. This must really be a wake-up call for government members of CCAMLR. The world will not forgive continued stalling and failure.”

Calls to action

Following the expiry of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) Conservation Measure 51-07 in late 2024, safeguards that distributed fishing effort across four management zones lapsed. CCAMLR’s own Scientific Committee subsequently concluded that this concentration of fishing was “not precautionary” and called for urgent reform. No replacement management system was agreed at the Commission’s 2025 annual meeting.

Scientists contend that hitting the catch limit year after year is not a measure of success that the system is working; it is a warning signal. Governments must ensure that commercial interests do not substitute for intergovernmental decision-making within CCAMLR.

The closure comes at a critical moment for Antarctic wildlife. Earlier this year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed both the emperor penguin and the Antarctic fur seal as Endangered, identifying declining krill availability linked to climate change as a significant factor affecting the resilience of Southern Ocean ecosystems.

Scientists are calling on CCAMLR Members meeting later this year to agree on a comprehensive package of reforms that:

◼︎ Restore precautionary spatial management to prevent concentrated fishing in wildlife hotspots,
◼︎ Adopt a modern ecosystem-based krill management system,
◼︎ Establish the long-proposed Antarctic Peninsula (Domain 1) Marine Protected Area,
◼︎ Agree a roadmap to deliver a representative system of MPAs protecting 30% of the Southern Ocean by 2030.
◼︎ Ensure conservation decisions remain firmly grounded in independent science and intergovernmental governance.

“The responsibility for safeguarding Antarctica rests with governments acting collectively through CCAMLR,” said Figueres. “Industry has an important role to play, but conservation outcomes must ultimately be determined through transparent, science-based international governance.”

Industry responds

The Southern Ocean krill fishery primarily supplies omega-3 nutritional supplements and aquaculture feed ingredients.  Around 11 krill vessels operated during the 2026 season across CCAMLR's Area 48, a management area covering approximately 3.5 million square kilometres. Over the past decade, vessels operated by Norwegian company Aker QRILL have accounted for approximately 63% of the fishery’s total harvest.

The current 620,000-tonne trigger level represents around 11% of CCAMLR's precautionary catch limit of 5.61 million tonnes for Area 48 and less than one percent of the approximately 63 million tonnes of krill biomass estimated by the 2019 CCAMLR synoptic survey.

Noting the closure of the fishery, Aker QRILL Company issued a statement advocating for a responsibly managed resource within the context of constrained global supply of traditional marine ingredients. Global aquaculture production has grown substantially, while the underlying supply of fishmeal and fish oil has remained largely flat. In 2026, production from key fisheries supplying certified marine ingredients is running particularly low.

“The responsible solution moving forward should now be to build that distribution into the management system rather than relying on annual variations in krill abundance and fleet behaviour,” says Webjørn Barstad, CEO of Aker QRILL Company.

“That means protecting large and important areas while establishing a science-based management system for the areas where fishing can be further developed. These elements need to be considered together if the 27 members of CCAMLR are going to reach consensus,” he added.

Aker QRILL Company supports the establishment of the proposed Domain 1 Marine Protected Area of approximately 455,000 km² around the Antarctic Peninsula. The company also supports a modernised Krill Fishery Management Approach that distributes catches across smaller management units and adapts fishing activity over space and time.

PHOTO: Over the past decade, vessels operated by Norwegian company Aker QRILL have accounted for approximately 63% of the fishery’s total harvest. (Source: © Aker QRILL)

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