Most krill is harvested for feeding fish in fish farms, such as salmon
The vast majority of krill harvested today (around 98 percent) is turned into meal for fish farming. Only about two percent is used for krill oil in dietary supplements.
Krill is rich in nutrients (they sustain huge whales, after all) and they contain the carotenoid and anti-oxidant astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is what gives farm-raised salmon its pinkish color. If it were not for krill meal, most of your store-bought salmon would yield a pale gray meat.
Thus when Whole Foods Markets removed krill oil supplements from its shelves because someone there was misinformed about krill oil's sustainability – that is, Antarctic krill's ability to reproduce in sufficient volume to allow for harvesting for human use – it made little sense Whole Foods Market banned krill oil supplements for human use but continued to sell farm-raised salmon, which is responsible for far more krill harvesting than are krill oil supplements. Even so, the amount of krill harvested by humans for any reason – human or other consumption – is only the tiniest fraction of krill in the Antarctic Ocean.
Krill oil is sustainable
There is a lot of misinformation and rumor on the Internet about this topic.
Often times, if someone has heard of krill oil at all, he might say “Isn’t that what whales eat?” followed by “Aren’t you taking the food out of the mouths of whales?” Whales do migrate to the Antarctic to feed on krill. It is their main source of protein and other nutrients, and they can consume up to seven tons a day, scientists estimate. However, there is more than enough krill to go around.
Krill is said to be the largest biomass in the world, which means there are more of them by far, weightwise, than any other species. Many millions of tons of krill swim in the Antarctic. The Antarctic Ocean is monitored very closely by some of the world’s top ecology scientists who advise CCAMLR, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. This is a 25-nation treaty organization formed to protect the species in Antarctica, especially krill. They have set strict catch limits on krill that are meant to ensure the species remains viable for the future.
CCAMLR scientists have set the sustainable harvesting limit at about 4 million tons. However, just to be extra safe, they have set what they call a “trigger limit” at 620,000 tons, a precautionary limit which would trigger a halt in krill harvesting, especially in any one area.
The nine vessels that fish for krill now have scientific observers aboard who make sure that the limits are not exceeded in any way.
One of CCAMLR’s top scientists is Dr. Simeon Hill, a senior scientific officer of at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) at Cambridge, England. BAS is one of the world's leading environmental research centers and is responsible for the UK's national scientific activities in Antarctica. Dr. Hill unequivocally told WellWise.org “I would argue that sustainability is a far greater issue in many other fisheries than in the krill fishery.”
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/12/2011 - 16:07.
Human beings have existed for ever without requiring krill in our diets. If you do require a supplement, please choose one that is not being literally vaccumed out of Antarctic waters by industrial fleets. Declines in krill are now begining to impact upon Antarctic species, described here in the AAAS Science magazine:
"In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Trivelpieces and their colleagues propose that a decrease in krill—shrimplike crustaceans that are a staple food for penguins—is to blame for the decline in Adelie penguins and chinstrap penguins, whose populations are now shrinking by 2.9% and 4.3%, respectively, each year. As it turns out, krill larvae are as dependent on sea ice as Adelie penguins are, feeding on algae that grow on the underside of ice packs; krill numbers have dropped by 80% since 1981."
The comment from the scientist quoted in your article, who says that there are other fisheries with greater sustainability concerns, is true but is being used to mislead - of course there are other fisheries in a worse state, there are other fisheries like cod (collapsed in the 1990's) and southern bluefin tuna (now collapsed to below 5% of the population) which are worse. That doesn't mean we should continue expanding our use of krill (in salmon farms and to a lesser extent supplements) just because it's "less dire" - it is still having a serious impact on the Antarctic food chain, which the species fuels.
Submitted by James Townsend on Fri, 04/15/2011 - 15:38.
These studies are part of a very large and developing picture that the scientists who are advising CCAMLR are examining. Part of the problem, of course, is determining the real amount of krill in the ocean -- this is not an easy task. But after many years of study, CCAMLR set the catch limit at 620,000 tonnes of krill. This amount, they determined, is far below the amount that would bring about any sort of collapse of the fishery, such as you have described here.
To date, we have harvested only 30 some percent of that amount.
Dr. Simeon Hill of the presitigious British Antarctic Survey has said clearly that there needs to be ongoing spatial, population, environmental and harvesting research, especially about where krill populations are fished because the krill in coastal areas may have greater influence on penguins and seals than, for example, fish and whales further out to sea. But he maintains that the limits already in place are to the best of our knowledge adequate to protect the krill fishery.
Your rather dark characterization of "vacuumed out of Antarctic waters by industrial fleets" strikes me as a little naive -- much of marine harvesting is done in far more harmful ways (scallopers and clammers and their bottom-destroying dredges come to mind). The methods used to harvest krill are pretty advanced and not harmful to the Antarctic environment. "Industrial fleets" as you call them are not much different a means of obtaining food than are, say, combines that harvest corn or other crops. Would you have us go back to a time when all such labor was done by hand and other inefficient methods? Catch fish with a pole and a hook from a dinghy?
The truth is, omega-3s, which are abundant in krill (and other coldwater species), are critically important to human health, and the only way to get them is to ingest them. And as people learn more about this, they are going to demand more. With a burgeoning population of humans, we cannot simply return to cruder and less efficient ways of harvesting our nutrition, but we need to apply all of our sciences and knowledge to learning how to live within our natural means. I do think we are doing that in the Antarctic, and not a lot of other places.
Read more discussion about krill oil sustainability, especially about the Whole Foods controversy to pull krill oil supplements, while leaving farm raised salmon untouched (98% of the harvested krill goes to salmon farms).
Comments
#1 Think carefully
Human beings have existed for ever without requiring krill in our diets. If you do require a supplement, please choose one that is not being literally vaccumed out of Antarctic waters by industrial fleets. Declines in krill are now begining to impact upon Antarctic species, described here in the AAAS Science magazine:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/04/melting-antarctic-ice-causing-pe.html
"In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Trivelpieces and their colleagues propose that a decrease in krill—shrimplike crustaceans that are a staple food for penguins—is to blame for the decline in Adelie penguins and chinstrap penguins, whose populations are now shrinking by 2.9% and 4.3%, respectively, each year. As it turns out, krill larvae are as dependent on sea ice as Adelie penguins are, feeding on algae that grow on the underside of ice packs; krill numbers have dropped by 80% since 1981."
The comment from the scientist quoted in your article, who says that there are other fisheries with greater sustainability concerns, is true but is being used to mislead - of course there are other fisheries in a worse state, there are other fisheries like cod (collapsed in the 1990's) and southern bluefin tuna (now collapsed to below 5% of the population) which are worse. That doesn't mean we should continue expanding our use of krill (in salmon farms and to a lesser extent supplements) just because it's "less dire" - it is still having a serious impact on the Antarctic food chain, which the species fuels.
#2 Careful thinking
These studies are part of a very large and developing picture that the scientists who are advising CCAMLR are examining. Part of the problem, of course, is determining the real amount of krill in the ocean -- this is not an easy task. But after many years of study, CCAMLR set the catch limit at 620,000 tonnes of krill. This amount, they determined, is far below the amount that would bring about any sort of collapse of the fishery, such as you have described here.
To date, we have harvested only 30 some percent of that amount.
Dr. Simeon Hill of the presitigious British Antarctic Survey has said clearly that there needs to be ongoing spatial, population, environmental and harvesting research, especially about where krill populations are fished because the krill in coastal areas may have greater influence on penguins and seals than, for example, fish and whales further out to sea. But he maintains that the limits already in place are to the best of our knowledge adequate to protect the krill fishery.
Your rather dark characterization of "vacuumed out of Antarctic waters by industrial fleets" strikes me as a little naive -- much of marine harvesting is done in far more harmful ways (scallopers and clammers and their bottom-destroying dredges come to mind). The methods used to harvest krill are pretty advanced and not harmful to the Antarctic environment. "Industrial fleets" as you call them are not much different a means of obtaining food than are, say, combines that harvest corn or other crops. Would you have us go back to a time when all such labor was done by hand and other inefficient methods? Catch fish with a pole and a hook from a dinghy?
The truth is, omega-3s, which are abundant in krill (and other coldwater species), are critically important to human health, and the only way to get them is to ingest them. And as people learn more about this, they are going to demand more. With a burgeoning population of humans, we cannot simply return to cruder and less efficient ways of harvesting our nutrition, but we need to apply all of our sciences and knowledge to learning how to live within our natural means. I do think we are doing that in the Antarctic, and not a lot of other places.
#3 Krill Sustainability Comments
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Read more discussion about krill oil sustainability, especially about the Whole Foods controversy to pull krill oil supplements, while leaving farm raised salmon untouched (98% of the harvested krill goes to salmon farms).
Follow this link to Whole Foods Krill Oil Sustainability Discusssion.
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