Starving the ocean for low-cost salmon

© DR

Version française ici

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Tiny, shrimplike crustaceans, krill are the lynchpin of the entire Southern Ocean ecosystem. Despite their foundational role in the austral seas, the Norwegian salmon‑feed company Aker BioMarine is prepared to pull that lynchpin—damn the consequences.

Last year, more than 620'000 metric tons of krill were taken from the Southern Ocean. Aker BioMarine alone took 64% of the total catch, largely to provide cheap fodder for farm‑raised salmon. Not satisfied with this plundering of a vital resource, Aker BioMarine—backed by the Norwegian government—has submitted a proposal to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

With support from Russia and China, Norway is now demanding an increase to 1.2 million metric tons. This would double the overall exploitation limit from 620'000 to nearly 1.2 million metric tons—roughly equal to the annual krill consumption of 1.2 million Adélie penguins. In short: starving penguins and whales to produce 3.2 million metric tons of cheap, toxic, factory‑farmed salmon.

The planet needs whales, penguins, krill, and phytoplankton far more than humans need cheap factory‑farmed salmon.

Antarctic krill help sequester an estimated 85 million tons of CO₂ annually through their fast‑sinking fecal pellets and molted exoskeletons, powering the biological carbon pump.

Here is the Southern Ocean’s crucial circle of life:

• Krill feed on phytoplankton and ice algae, and their fecal pellets drive the carbon pump.

• Phytoplankton thrive on iron‑rich krill feces.

• Whales consume krill and release iron‑rich feces that fertilize phytoplankton.

• No phytoplankton = no krill.

• No krill = no whales.

• No whales = no phytoplankton.

• More farm‑raised salmon = less krill.

The krill fishery is not only a threat to whales and penguins; it is a serious threat to our own survival. The diminishment of finite resources erodes biodiversity and interdependence, tipping us toward ecological collapse.

So how do we respond?

The High Seas Treaty for the Protection of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction was ratified on September 19, 2025, and will enter into force on January 17, 2026. January 17 is our target date to confront Aker BioMarine’s massive extraction ships in the Southern Ocean.

Our challenge is to bring our two vessels (the John Paul DeJoria and the Bandero) and their dedicated crews to the cold, remote, and hostile waters of Antarctica to intercept the krill fleet.

The krill fishery poses a serious threat to Antarctic ecosystems, and it must be challenged. Sea Shepherd France, in partnership with the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, intends to confront the krill killers in January 2026, using our proven tactics of aggressive non‑violence. We must also bring Aker BioMarine before an international court to curtail its ecological reign of terror in the Southern Ocean.