A record catch of krill near Antarctica could trigger an unprecedented end to fishing season

AP News ^ | Updated 7:55 AM CDT, July 29, 2025 | JOSHUA GOODMAN

[E. Pluribus Unum]

MIAMI (AP) — Trawling near Antarctica for krill — a crustacean central to the diet of whales and a critical buffer to global warming — has surged to a record and is fast approaching a never before reached seasonal catch limit that would trigger the unprecedented early closure of the remote fishery, The Associated Press has learned.

The fishing boom follows the failure last year of the U.S., Russia, China and two dozen other governments to approve a new management plan that would have mandated spreading out the area in which krill can be caught and creating a California-sized reserve along the environmentally sensitive Antarctic Peninsula.

In the first seven months of the 2024-25 season, krill fishing in Antarctica reached 518,568 tons, about 84% of the 620,000-ton limit that, once reached, will force the fishery to automatically close. In one hot spot, the catch through June 30 was nearly 60% higher than all of last year’s haul, according to a report from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or CCAMLR, the international organization that manages the world’s southernmost fishery.

The report, which has not been publicly released and CCAMLR said contains confidential data, was shared with The AP by someone concerned about overfishing in Antarctica on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

“The vast majority of the krill take is from an increasingly smaller area,” said Capt. Peter Hammarstedt, campaign director for conservation group Sea Shepherd Global, which this year made its third voyage to Antarctica to document the fishery. “It’s the equivalent of a hunter saying that they’re only killing 1% of the U.S.’ deer population but leaving out that all of the deer were shot in Rhode Island.”

Threat from climate change, advances in fishing

Krill is one of the...

[ssfromla]

I love me some boudin too. Yum

[crusty old prospector]

I cooked some on the grill (without krill) a couple of days ago and have been having it on a tortilla for breakfast.

[RideForever]

Or maybe, just maybe, it might be due to the changing ocean currents that are underway as the North Pole continues its journey to a new position on the globe. An Atlantic current reversed itself this week and has never before been done in mankind’s history.