ARK commits to voluntary restrictions in the Antarctic Peninsula to ensure long-term sustainability of krill fisheries

At a round table meeting in Cambridge, UK, on 5 July 2018, ARK agreed to groundbreaking voluntary restricted zones covering about 74 000 km2 in the Antarctic Peninsula.

The initiative will limit krill harvesting around penguin colonies from 1 January 2019. It will ensure the long-term viability of krill stocks and that the krill fishing industry does not compete with penguin colonies during their breeding season.

Strong marine protection and sustainable krill fisheries can co-exist. This voluntary measure will provide protection as well as a platform for Antarctic marine scientists to collect information for increased understanding of the interactions of the krill fishery with other predators in the Antarctic Peninsula.

With this commitment, ARK companies pledge to keep fishing effort up to 40 kilometers away from the coast from October to March, depending on the conservation needs of colonies of Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins while breeding around the Antarctic Peninsula, off South Shetland and in Gerlache Strait.

The commitment will see the seasonal closure gradually implemented into a permanent closure from 2020, of which size and limits are to be decided after an independent review of the implementation, of scientific data collected and the potential impact on the commercial fishery.

Even with the robust biomass of the Antarctic krill, and a krill fishery regulated by very precautionary CCAMLR quotas, it is imperative to keep developing sustainable fishing patterns on nature’s own terms in order to preserve the krill population and the Antarctic ecosystem well into the future. This is why the science behind this voluntary measure is extremely important to us, and continued implementation must take into account input from the CCAMLR community of member states, scientists and NGOs to ensure that a balanced and precautionary approach is maintained.