Back in the 19th century, people used to boil penguins (sometimes alive) for theiroil. Millions of seals were driven inland from the beaches of sub-Antarctic islands like South Georgia and clubbed – pups, juveniles and adults – before being stabbed through the heart so their pelts could make fur coats. Whales were cruelly harpooned in their hundreds of thousands for their blubber and driven to the brink of extinction.
Thank goodness those days are over, and the Antarctic is now protected from all exploitation. Except that it isn’t. Each year massive Norwegian and Chinese supertrawlers visit the feeding grounds of recovering whale populations and vaccum up as much krill – the tiny crustacean that is food for whales, penguins and seals like – as they can take. Last year was the highest take for two decades, 620,000 tonnes of krill removed by Norway’s Aker QRILL and other trawling companies. I’ve calculated that this is enough krill to feed 850 blue whales for a whole season!
And almost the worst thing is that the Marine Stewardship Council – them of the blue tick – is about to re-certify Aker QRILL’s activities as ‘sustainable’ despite fears from scientists and conservationists that the competition for food may be hampering whale recovery. Witnesses have seen krill supertrawlers sailing right into pods of feeding whales in order to get to the densest krill swarms, literally hoovering up the whales’ food from right in front of them.
Please make sure you boycott all krill products – don’t EVER buy omega-3 krill oil supplements, for example, as vegan algal alternatives are easily available. And take care because krill also goes into pet food and fishmeal used in salmon farming. Most importantly, please also tell the MSC not to re-certify the damaging krill fishery. Time is running out; they’re due to announce the decision any day, and all the objections from conservation NGOs have so far been rejected.
Here’s the full shocking story on my Substack, and how you can help before it’s too late…