Krill fishery in Antarctica shut down after record catch triggers unprecedented early closure
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 habitats preferred by whales, penguins and seals. In one hot spot, the catch through June 30 was nearly 60% higher than all of last season's haul, according to an internal CCAMLR report obtained by the AP.
Krill is one of the most abundant marine species in the world, with an estimated biomass of 63 million metric tons. But advances in fishing, climate change and growing demand for krill's Omega-3 rich oil – for fishmeal, pet food and human dietary supplements — have increased pressure on the krill stocks. In the 2023-24 season, a fleet of 12 trawlers from mostly Norway and China caught 498,350 tons of krill — until now the largest harvest since CCAMLR began collecting catch data in 1973.
Underscoring the competition between humans and whales, three humpback whales were found dead or seriously injured last year in the long, cylindrical nets deployed by the vessels to vacuum up the paper-clip sized crustacean.
Krill aren't just vital to marine ecosystems. Increasingly, researchers are focusing on their role as a bulwark against climate change. One peer-reviewed study found that krill remove from the atmosphere and store in the ocean 20 million tons of carbon annually. That's the equivalent of taking off the road 5 million cars every year.
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This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Contact AP's global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
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From the initial design, to the build, to the operations - people were sold a lie," Lochridge told the he firmly believes the US authorities could - and should - have done more to stop Oceangate. Lochridge had joined Oceangate seven years earlier as the company's Director of Marine Operations. He moved his family from Scotland to the US, and was full of excitement about the company's was building a new submersible to take paying passengers down to the most famous wreck in the world - the he was going to be involved in the project from the very start, working alongside the team designing the straight-talking Glaswegian has worked at sea for more than 25 years, first with the Royal Navy and later as a submersible pilot. He also led submarine rescue operations, responding to distress calls from people trapped underwater. He knows about the risks involved in deep responsibilities included planning dives and, as chief pilot, he would be the one taking the sub and its passengers 3,800m beneath the waves to see the Titanic. Safety was at the heart of his role."As the director of marine operations, I'm the one responsible for everybody," he told BBC News. "I was responsible for the safety of all Oceangate personnel and all of the passengers that were going to be coming in the sub." A prototype for the new submersible, which would eventually be called Titan, was being developed with the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The plan was to build its hull - the part where the passengers would sit - out of carbon deep diving sub had been made out of this material before - most have hulls constructed from titanium or steel. 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Test dives were about to start in the Bahamas before those expeditions got wanted Oceangate to delay these plans."I formulated a report and I sent it out to all the directors in the company."The following day he was summoned to a meeting with Rush and several other Oceangate employees.A transcript from the two-hour-long meeting, where the itemised report was picked over, reveals a heated exchange between Lochridge and the end of the meeting, in response to Lochridge's safety concerns, Rush says: "I have no desire to die. I've got a nice granddaughter. I'm going to be around. I understand this kind of risk, and I'm going into it with eyes open, and I think this is one of the safest things I will ever do."To Lochridge's surprise, immediately after this meeting he was he was so concerned about Titan that he got in touch with the US government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration - told him his case was urgent because it involved public safety and that he would be placed under the whistleblower protection scheme, designed to protect employees from retaliation by employers if they've reported concerns about workplace part of this process, OSHA passed Lochridge's concerns about Titan to the US Coast Guard (USCG) in February Lochridge says after OSHA wrote to Oceangate to tell them it was starting an investigation, everything March, Oceangate asked Lochridge to drop the OSHA complaint - and demanded he pay $10,000 for legal costs. Lochridge in July 2018, Oceangate sued Lochridge - and his wife Carole - for breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud and theft, amongst other allegations. The following month, Lochridge countersued for unfair maintains that throughout the process OSHA was slow and failed to protect him from the ongoing retaliation he was receiving from Oceangate."I provided all the documentation to OSHA, I was on the phone to OSHA every few weeks." he said. "OSHA did nothing." 'They beat us down' In December 2018, under increasing pressure from Oceangate's lawyers, Lochridge and his wife took the decision to drop the meant the legal proceedings were settled, and as part of this agreement Lochridge withdrew his complaint at OSHA. OSHA stopped its investigation and also notified the US Coast guard that the complaint had been suspended. Lochridge also signed a non-disclosure agreement."Carole and I did everything we physically could, we just got to the point that we were completely burned… We had nothing left to give to it. They beat us down."Oceangate continued at pace with its plans to reach the 2018 and 2019, the prototype sub made its first test dives in the Bahamas - including one, piloted by Stockton Rush, that reached a depth of 3,939m.A crack was later found in the sub's carbon fibre hull, and in 2020 that damaged hull was swapped out for a new one, in what became the second version of Titan. In 2021, the company started taking passengers to the Titanic, and over the next two summers made 13 dives to the famous in June 2023, the sub went missing with five people on board - including Stockton Rush. After days of anxious waiting, the sub's wreckage was found littered across the ocean the US Coast Guard's public hearings held last year, Lochridge criticised OSHA for its lack of action. 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The Guardian
a day ago
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