The krill fishery in Antarctica has once again been brought to a premature close in 2026. The 620,000-tonne threshold had already been reached in the South Atlantic fishing grounds by 12 August. However, scientists are less concerned about the total catch volume than about the increasing concentration of fishing vessels in key feeding grounds for penguins, seals and whales.
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is only a few centimetres long, but plays a key role in the Southern Ocean’s ecosystem. Penguins, seals, whales, seabirds and numerous fish species depend directly or indirectly on these small crustaceans for food.
At the same time, the economic importance of krill is growing. Among other things, it is processed into feed for aquaculture and into omega-3 products.
The so-called trigger threshold for Area 48, set by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), stands at 620,000 tonnes. In 2026, this threshold was reached as early as 12 August – for the second year running, well before the regular end of the season. In 2025, the fishery had even been closed as early as 1 August.
Fishing fleet concentrates on a few areas
However, the total catch is only part of the problem. Marine biologist Kim S. Bernard of Oregon State University, who has been studying Antarctic krill for 16 years, highlights in particular the spatial concentration of the fishery.
Vessel movement data from Global Fishing Watch show that in 2026, the krill fleet operated mainly in the Bransfield Strait and Gerlach Strait on the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as north-west of the South Orkney Islands. In large parts of the rest of Area 48, by contrast, there was little or no krill fishing.
It is precisely these waters that are also important feeding grounds for penguins, seals and whales. Krill is not distributed evenly across the Southern Ocean, but forms large, locally concentrated swarms. If such concentrations are fished intensively, even a catch quota that has been set with due caution can therefore have local impacts.
Conservation scheme expired
Until 2024, in addition to the total allowable catch, there was a scheme that allocated krill fishing to different sub-areas. This was intended to prevent a large proportion of the catch coming from just a few ecologically particularly important regions.
However, this scheme expired without the CCAMLR members being able to agree on a successor scheme. Since then, fishing has become more concentrated in individual areas. According to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, catches in Area 48.1 alone – around the Antarctic Peninsula – have risen significantly compared with previous years.
The fishing industry, on the other hand, points out that the existing regulation works: as soon as the 620,000-tonne threshold is reached, the season is brought to a close. Furthermore, this quantity represents less than one per cent of the krill biomass in Area 48, as estimated in a major CCAMLR survey in 2019.
Decision in October
This brings the question to the fore of where krill may be caught and how catch quotas should be spatially allocated in future.
At the next CCAMLR annual meeting in October, discussions are set to resume on modernised management of the krill fishery. Also on the agenda is a large marine protected area around the Antarctic Peninsula.
The decision could have far-reaching consequences for the ecosystem. This is because krill forms one of the most important foundations of the Antarctic food web, and the very same shoals targeted by the fishing fleets also provide food for a large proportion of the wildlife in the Southern Ocean.
Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal