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How the Demand for Fish Oil Impacts Antarctic Communities

  • Dylan Tingey
  • May 5
  • 2 min read

On April 18, 2025, the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd reported the death of a humpback whale while monitoring fishing operations by krill supertrawler the Arctic Endeavor in the Southern Ocean. The whale was discovered dead in one of the trawling nets on board the Arctic Endeavor by crew members, who reported the incident to regulators in Chile. In line with environmental regulations there, the Chilean-flagged Arctic Endeavor is being investigated in a criminal complaint launched by the national director of Chile’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sea Shepherd). During this spring 2025 surveying mission, the Sea Shepherd crew observed a total of eight krill supertrawlers in the waters around the largest of the South Orkney Islands in Antarctica: Coronation Island. According to the director of campaigns at Sea Shepherd, captain Peter Hammarstedt, a common tactic these fishing vessels practice is following pods of whales feeding near the surface to locate krill (Hammarstedt). The krill industry is not unfamiliar with fatal whale bycatch; in 2024, at least three juvenile humpback whales died as a result of entanglement by krill supertrawlers (Sea Shepherd). 


Krill are a critical species in the food chain in this ecosystem, which makes minimizing the amount and frequency at which krill are fished in harmful ways matter. The survival of whales and krill is inextricably linked. In fact, according to a Stanford study, the phytoplankton that krill rely on are actually fed by the nutrients from dissolved whale droppings in the water (Stanford Report). The main cause for krill demand skyrocketing is the health supplement industry, primarily for omega-3 supplements (Sea Shepherd). Although true deficiencies of omega-3 fats are rare in adults, most Americans are consuming below the recommended amount (Galati). With the increasing popularity of adding health supplements to our daily routines — either for deficiencies or diet reasons — it is important to consider the origin of the ingredients in these products. 


 The current limits on krill fishing are high enough that they don’t restrict fishing action, thus facilitating the exponential growth of krill fishing operations, from 104,728 in 2007 to 498,000 metric tons by only October 2024 (AP). The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was established in 1982 to protect the waters of the Antarctic by setting limits for the amount of krill fishing fleets can legally catch (AP). Last year, the annual meeting of delegates and commission members failed to pass updated conservation regulations that would lower these catch limits. During the meetings, it was also revealed anonymously to the Associated Press that two more whales were killed in fatal entanglement incidents, and their deaths went unreported to regulatory bodies and the media for months (AP). Antarctica, often referred to as one of the last true wildernesses on Earth, has less than 5% of its oceans protected as conservation zones, leaving the Antarctic food chain at a greatly increased risk for harm (AP). Since 1970, krill populations in Antarctica have declined by more than 80%, caused largely by industrial use in omega-3 supplements, agricultural feed, and cosmetics. There are alternatives to omega-3 products derived from krill; several companies have developed algal-based alternatives (The Irish Times). 



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