The future of the planet is not decided only during the COPs (conferences of the parties)! While the world’s cameras were – rightly – turning to Cali in Colombia for COP16 biodiversity, the meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was being held in Hobart , in Australia, from October 14 to 27. Far from the spotlight.
Some attentive ears nevertheless turned to the Tasmanian capital, where 26 states as well as the European Union were gathered. And what they heard there is not reassuring: “China and Russia work together to block the creation of new marine parks in Antarctica and ease restrictions on krill fishing”reported to the Guardian on 1st November.
Tony Press, former head of the Australian Antarctic Division and assistant professor at the University of Tasmania, told our colleagues that the precautionary principle – supported by the member countries of the commission for three decades – had made “reverse” during the last meeting. “This sets a very bad precedent for the future”he worried.
5 new Chinese krill fishing vessels
Krill, a small crustacean, constitutes a primary food source for key species of the coastal ecosystem such as penguins, seals and whales, describes the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) on its website.
An agreement therefore limits annual catches of krill to 620,000 tonnes per year in four neighboring areas of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. There “measure 51-07”it stipulates that a maximum of 45% of the total can be taken from one of these zones – the countries were seeking to renew it when China, with the support of Russia, used its veto power, testifies the Dr Lyn Goldsworthy.
“China has a long-term strategy. Its guideline is to develop krill fishing [en Antarctique]”the researcher at the University of Tasmania and observer of CCAMLR meetings told the Guardian. The Asian country has reportedly committed to building five new vessels to catch the crustacean, four of which are “almost finished.”
Pumped continuously to make animal meal (among other things)
According to a report published in May by the commission on krill fishing, catches have never been so significant: 415,800 tonnes per year on average between 2019 and 2023, compared to 266,000 tonnes for the previous five years. In 2024, 14 ships planned to target the animal, including four belonging to China, four to Norway, three to South Korea, one to Chile, one to Russia and one to Ukraine.
China and Norway use an industrial fishing method which consists of continuously pumping krill from the nets to the vessel. Main outlet: the food industry. In aquaculture, it is used to prepare animal meal given in particular to farmed salmon, notes the MNHN. It also serves “bait, ingredient” and finally to “resource forpharmaceutical industry.”
In addition to excessive capture, other threats also weigh on the small crustacean: sea ice, a “critical habitat” for him, melts at an accelerated rate with rising temperatures, which also accentuates the acidification of the oceans – a process which “will gradually prevent krill from producing larvae that can give life”points to the Museum.
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