The Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica is the world’s largest feeding ground for whales such as the humpback, fin and blue. Still, a new threat is emerging for these giants – industrial fishing for Antarctic krill which these mighty marine mammals depend on for survival. 10 to 12 large trawlers from Chile, China, Norway, South Korea and Ukraine are reported to harvest krill in the same spots the whales are feeding, despite krill being the only thing that these large whales eat when in this area, the trawlers are directly competing with the whales for their sole food supply. Nearly all the commercial catch is used to make two products, food for farm-raised fish and omega-3 dietary supplements for human consumption.
A new study in Nature Communications shows human harvesting of krill in the Southern Ocean could threaten the recovery of whale species nearly wiped out by industrial whaling in the 20th century.
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