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stories about the people, ideas, and investments shaping the future of our ocean
The Avengers Assemble for Krill
A superhero cast, the world’s top ocean scientist, and a chain of drugstores do not usually end up on the same team. But that is exactly what just happened at the bottom of the world.
A coalition calling itself the Antarctic Avengers, assembled by Sea Shepherd Global, launched during Climate Week in New York with a single demand: stop industrial fishing in the Southern Ocean. The lineup reads like a red carpet crossed with a marine biology faculty. Benedict Cumberbatch. Chris Evans. James Blunt. Bonnie Wright. The astronaut Sian Proctor. Conservation photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen. And at the center of it, Dr. Sylvia Earle, the most respected ocean scientist alive.
What are they fighting for? Something tiny. Krill.
Antarctic krill are shrimp-like animals that swarm in numbers you can see from space, and they hold up nearly the entire Southern Ocean. Whales, penguins, seals, seabirds and more all eat them. A single blue whale can eat several tonnes of them in one day. They even pull about 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air each year, as much as mangroves or seagrass. And right now, they are being industrially harvested to make omega-3 supplements, pet treats, and feed for farmed salmon.
An Antarctic Krill
📸 Credit: Getty Images & Gerald Corsi
Why It Matters
Major retailers started walking away before the Antarctic Avengers showed up.
Holland & Barrett, the UK's largest health and wellness retailer, dropped krill entirely back in April. In Germany, the drugstore giant dm-drogerie markt is clearing krill from more than 4,000 stores. In Australia, Woolworths and Coles have quietly pulled krill oil supplements from their shelves. They are companies that looked at the facts and decided krill was not worth selling.
The omega-3 people actually want does not come from krill. It comes from algae. Krill only have it because they eat that algae first. That same algae oil is already sold in stores, which means people can skip the krill entirely and get the exact same omega-3.
Looking Ahead
All of this is building toward one date. On October 18, the 27 countries that manage Antarctic waters meet in Hobart, Australia, to set fishing limits and decide on new protections. Norway is the main target. It took about 63% of the world's krill catch over the past ten years.
The warning signs are hard to miss. Chinstrap penguins are down about 30%. The Antarctic fur seal was listed as endangered this April. And the krill fishery hit its catch limit and shut down early, for the second year in a row.
The good news is that the fix is something you can actually do. As filmmaker Andy Mann put it, this is one of the rare problems where the answer is in your hands: read the label, put it back on the shelf, and buy the algae version instead.
Here’s Where You Come In
The countries head to Hobart in just a few days. Before they go, the campaign is asking people to speak up. It takes less than a minute.
Check the label. If a supplement, pet treat, or fish feed lists Antarctic krill, choose the algae version instead.
Send a message to Norway's leaders before their team leaves for the meeting.
Forward this to one person who takes fish oil. Most people have no idea where it comes from.
The vote is still weeks away. The shelves are already emptying. The rest is up to us.
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Sources: Oceanographic & Antarctic Avengers
OCEAN
Wonder of the Week
📸 Credit: The Ocean Image Bank & Lars von Ritter Zahony
What You’re Looking At:
Two humpback whales glide past an iceberg off the Antarctic Peninsula, their flippers glowing turquoise beneath the surface. From above, you can see what the surface hides. The ice spreads out underwater in a wide, glowing shelf, a reminder that most of an iceberg sits unseen below the waterline. These whales travel thousands of miles to reach these waters, drawn by the swarms of krill that make Antarctica one of the greatest feeding grounds on Earth.
EVENTS
Save the Date
Nairobi Convention COP12 • October 5th - 9th • Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
COP12 brings together the countries of the Western Indian Ocean to coordinate on marine protection, pollution, fisheries, and the blue economy. With Tanzania hosting, it is a chance to turn the momentum from Our Ocean Conference into regional action.
The Western Indian Ocean is one of the most biodiverse marine regions on Earth, home to coral reefs, mangroves, and coastal communities that millions depend on.
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