Adjusting the Management of the Antarctic Krill Fishery to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century

Biomass

Fisheries management

Antarctic ecosystem

Climate

Krill (Euphausia superba)

Adjusting the Management of the Antarctic Krill Fishery to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century

Summary

This perspective article addresses critical gaps in Antarctic krill fishery management as CCAMLR faces unprecedented challenges. With krill catches reaching record highs of 0.5 million tons in 2024 and the loss of spatial catch restrictions, the authors propose implementing a "Krill Stock Hypothesis" framework to revolutionize management approaches. The paper demonstrates how fishing vessels can serve as valuable data collection platforms while highlighting the urgent need for industry-science collaboration and sustainable funding mechanisms. The research emphasizes that current management relies on 25-year-old biomass data and fails to account for climate change impacts on krill populations.

Key Findings

CCAMLR failed to renew spatial catch limits in 2024, removing all geographic restrictions on 0.62 Mt annual quota

Current management based solely on historical catches and single 2000 biomass survey from 25 years ago

Krill fishery reached record 0.5 Mt catch in 2024, with concentrated fishing pressure in ecologically sensitive areas

Fishing vessels can provide critical real-time data on krill demographics, distribution, and predator interactions

Industry-science collaboration essential for sustainable long-term monitoring and data collection

Climate change and recovering whale populations increasing pressure on krill stocks and fishery sustainability

Proposed "Krill Stock Hypothesis" framework integrates ecological factors, spawning patterns, and habitat connectivity

Need for multisector funding model combining government, industry, and NGO resources for research

Abstract

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is the central prey species in the Southern Ocean food web, supporting the largest and fastest-growing fishery in the region, managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Climate change is threatening krill populations and their predators, while current catch limits do not take into account climate variability or krill population dynamics. In 2024, CCAMLR was unable to renew its spatial catch limits, highlighting the urgent need for improved management of the krill fishery to prevent any harm to the Southern Ocean ecosystem. To address this, we propose a management framework that integrates variability in krill recruitment and key pathways between spawning and nursery areas—a krill stock hypothesis—to inform decisions on catch limits and conservation measures.

Published in

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

2025

Authors

Bettina Meyer

Javier A. Arata

Angus Atkinson

Dominik Bahlburg

Kim Bernard

César A. Cárdenas

Susie M. Grant

Simeon L. Hill

Lukas Hüppe

Taro Ichii

So Kawaguchi

Bjørn A. Krafft

Sara Labrousse

Dale Maschette

Andrea Piñones

Christian Reiss

Bernd Siebenhüner

Zephyr Sylvester

Philippe Ziegler

Institutions

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany

Association of Responsible Krill Harvesting Companies, Australia

Plymouth Marine Laboratory, United Kingdom

Oregon State University, USA

Instituto Antártico Chileno, Chile

British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom

Australian Antarctic Division, Australia

Institute of Marine Research, Norway

Multiple other international institutions

Methods

Acoustic

Biological sampling

Data

Field

Case

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