Today Sea Shepherd Global has released footage and images of large industrial krill supertrawlers, once again trawling in large pods of whales off the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Bob Brown Foundation is calling on the Australian government to call on t to ban krill fishing in the Antarctic, based on the huge impact it has on the wildlife that calls Antarctica home.
The Bob Brown Foundation travelled to Antarctica over the Austral summer of 2022/23 and witnessed devastating scenes of trawlers fishing amongst foraging whales and penguins.
In October 2023, the Bob Brown Foundation released a report on where krill that is caught ends up in Australia. This report found that 100 per cent of Australian pharmacies surveyed carried krill oil products from the Antarctic and that Biomar, a fish feed producer in Wesley Vale, Tasmania, used up to 1200 tons of krill meal per year. This is the equivalent of 1 billion individual krill.
‘Once again, these immense supertrawlers have been caught plundering krill right out of the mouths of penguins and whales in Antarctica,’ said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine campaigner at the Bob Brown Foundation.
‘The krill fishing industry claimed that the images of krill trawlers fishing amongst whales that we captured last year were a rare occurrence. It’s now evident that it is par for the course.
‘Krill is caught for products we do not need such as to created feed for farmed salmon or pet food,’ said Mr Allan.
‘There is no need to destroy the foundation of the Antarctic ecosystem. It should shock all Australians that the farmed salmon that is produced in Tasmania, is feed the very food that penguins, seals and whales rely on to survive in Antarctica.”
‘CCAMLR is expected to have a special meeting later this year to talk about Marine Protected Areas right where these trawlers operate. Australia must put forward a motion to ban krill fishing in Antarctica,’ said Alistair Allan.
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