These tiny crustacean grow to about six centimeters occurs in vast school in the seas around Antarctica and is the major source of food for whales, seals, penguins and sea birds. The scientists said that without krill the ecosystem in Antarctica could collapse. As krill is useful in many ways such as medicines, enzymes, cleaner, etc., it has become highly vulnerable. It is said that within five years, the annual krill catch could jump from just more than 100,000 tons to several million tons.
Denzil Miller, executive secretary of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, based in Hobart, Australia, opined that the potential of the krill story is that the competition for protein of whatever form is becoming more and more acute. He also said that in the next two to three years we are going to see a lot of changes in the way governments and the international community addresses problems of expectation around food security.
According to him the commission had created guidelines that managed how and where krill were caught to try to minimize the impact on whales, seals and other predators. According to scientists and environmentalists new processing techniques by the Norwegian company Aker BioMarine have recently changed the whole krill fishery.
Gerry Leape, director of the Antarctic Krill Conservation Project, informed that the upshot of all this is that instead of one fleet catching 100,000 tons in a season, one boat can catch 100,000 tons in one season. He said that all of a sudden if that technology is replicated, you could go from a conservative catch to something that could start being a problem.
Krill rely heavily on sea ice for breeding and feeding, particularly during winter months. Their main food is tiny phytoplankton that thrives on the underside of sea ice but global warming is changing the amount of sea ice down south. However, the concerned authority is leading a project to create a management program that will help fishing companies adapt to changing conditions in the Antarctic ecosystem.
