\u201cCCAMLR Members did not reach consensus on either,\u201d Javier Arata, spokesperson for the industry Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies (ARK), told Mongabay by email, minutes after the meeting closed. \u201cCCAMLR adopted no new measures for the krill fishery this year,\u201d Arata said, adding that members \u201cwere closer this year than many expected.\u201d He said his group will keep working with all CCAMLR members, scientists and other interested parties to get both measures adopted in 2027.<\/p>\n
In response to the lack of progress, several conservation organizations, including the U.S.-based Antarctic Wildlife Alliance, the Our Antarctica campaign\u00a0and the Australia-based Bob Brown Foundation, renewed their calls for consumers and supermarkets to boycott commercially available krill-related products.<\/p>\n
\u201cCCAMLR has an obligation to conserve Antarctic wildlife, but its continued failure to act is leaving penguins, seals and whales competing with industrial fishing vessels for their food,\u201d Andrea Kavanagh, chief campaign and policy officer of the Antarctic Wildlife Alliance, said in a joint press release. \u201cWe cannot keep waiting for governments to do their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2009, CCAMLR members committed to establishing a \u201crepresentative system\u201d of marine protected areas (MPAs). However, since the designation of an MPA in the Ross Sea region in 2016, they have failed to reach the consensus required to approve any new proposals over the past decade. This has been largely due to repeated vetoes by the Chinese and Russian delegations, leaving proposals for MPAs in the Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica and two areas of the Weddell Sea in limbo.<\/p>\n CCAMLR data show that over the same period, commercial interest in krill has grown, with catches quintupling from 125,826 metric tons in 2009 to 620,000 metric tons in 2025 and 2026, which is the precautionary limit set by CCAMLR. Reaching this threshold triggered the early closure of the fishing season in August of both years, several months ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n The industry\u2019s growth has been driven by the Norwegian and Chinese fishing fleets, which target krill to meet growing demand for omega-3 fatty acids, particularly in the form of fish oil and fishmeal used in aquaculture feed, dietary supplements for human consumption and pet food.<\/p>\n \u201cThe global omega-3 industry is experiencing unprecedented challenges,\u201d states a white paper published in October by the Norwegian company Aker BioMarine, whose subsidiary Aker Qrill accounted for 52% of krill catches in 2025. Aker BioMarine attributes these challenges to rising demand coupled with supply shortages linked to declining anchovy and other wild fish stocks and climate fluctuations, particularly El Ni\u00f1o.<\/p>\n \u201c[D]emand might exceed supply as early as 2027, opening a potential deficit of 160.000MT [160,000 metric tons] by 2031,\u201d the document states, suggesting that Antarctic krill could fill the hole because it \u201coffers a reliable omega-3 source unaffected by El Ni\u00f1o events.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[R]ight now fishmeal prices are at an all-time high,\u201d Matts Johansen, Aker BioMarine\u2019s CEO, wrote on Linkedin in October. \u201cThe short-term increase in price is down to the weather phenomenon El Ni\u00f1o, but many overlook the long-term structural issues.\u201d<\/p>\n In a company position paper Mongabay reviewed, Aker proposed hitching development of the Antarctic Peninsula MPA to a new krill fishery management approach. It says this would allow the industry to sustainably increase catches above the current annual limit of 620,000 metric tons by distributing fishing activity in different areas and at various times during the season.<\/p>\n During the CCAMLR meeting, the Norwegian delegation proposed increasing catch limits, but failed to secure the necessary consensus. In September, Norway\u2019s minister of fisheries and ocean policy, Marianne Sivertsen N\u00e6ss, responding to a parliamentary question, defended the scientific basis for a \u201cmoderate increase\u201d in the current krill catch level.<\/p>\n With no agreement on increasing krill catches, the Chinese and Russian delegations once again vetoed Argentina and Chile\u2019s proposal to establish a Domain 1 MPA. The proposed MPA would have safeguarded 456,000 square kilometers (176,000 square miles) of ocean, including areas that serve as important feeding grounds for penguins, whales, seals and seabirds \u2014 animals that rely on krill as a primary food source and are already suffering the impacts of global warming.<\/p>\n \u201cCountries like Russia basically couldn\u2019t go with this consensus, but opened the door to have more discussions in the future,\u201d Maximiliano Bello, ocean policy expert for the UK-based Blue Marine Foundation and spokesperson for Our Antarctica, told Mongabay after the meeting closed.<\/p>\n In a press statement, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a conservation NGO network, also acknowledged CCAMLR members\u2019 efforts to make progress, while criticizing the lack of concrete results. \u201cWhile progress was made, it is still regrettable that there are no meaningful outcomes that would increase protections for ecosystems and species increasingly under pressure from fishing and climate change,\u201d Claire Christian, the coalition\u2019s executive director, said.<\/p>\n The Russian and the Chinese delegation to CCAMLR, the Russian federal agency for fisheries and the Chinese ministry of agriculture and rural affairs did not respond to Mongabay\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n During the meeting, China, whose fleet brought in 37% of krill catches in 2025, submitted a proposal for a new MPA in what it called the \u201cCosmonauts Sea.\u201d The name dates back to the Soviet era and refers to part of an area in the eastern Southern Ocean that CCAMLR calls Area 58, where krill catches have been negligible over the past 30 years.<\/p>\n The Chinese delegation also presented a second document, which Mongabay reviewed. It proposed revising the very definition of MPAs within CCAMLR to limit their scope and duration and ensure they coexist with the \u201crational use\u201d of marine resources \u2014 meaning fishing could take place within them. \u201cClarifying the nature and definition of CCAMLR MPAs is beneficial in providing a fundamental guideline for the establishment of MPAs,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n![\"Existing](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/11\/03121139\/Fig1_overall_desktop.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
The race for omega-3s<\/h2>\n
Different views on MPAs<\/h2>\n