Officials have shut down the krill fishery near Antarctica early after exceeding the seasonal catch limit for the first time
ByJOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press
MIAMI — Officials have shut down early the remote krill fishery near Antarctica after trawling for the tiny crustacean — a vital food source for whales that also helps fight climate change — exceeded the seasonal catch limit for the first time.
The unprecedented early closure of the fishery follows a report by The Associated Press last week detailing a record surge in the krill catch after a longstanding conservation framework was allowed to lapse with no plan in place to handle growing pressures in the world’s southernmost fishery.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or CCAMLR, the international organization that manages the fishery, declined to comment but confirmed the closure earlier this month of the 2024-25 season, which should have extended until December, after fishing hit the 620,000 metric ton limit.
The U.S., Russia, China and two dozen other governments last year failed to approve a new management plan that would have mandated spreading out the area in which krill can be caught and create a California-sized reserve along the environmentally sensitive Antarctic Peninsula.
In the absence of a deal, industrial trawlers were allowed this season to essentially fish anywhere at any time, including in smaller habit