The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) recently released a draft report for its fourth recertification of krill fishing in Antarctica by Aker QRILL Company. The certification would allow Aker to put an MSC label on its products that tells consumers the krill came from a sustainable well-managed fishery. However, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), a U.S.-based advocacy group, issued a formal objection to that determination, citing concerns about overfishing of a critical resource in a sensitive ecosystem.

“Everything that lives in Antarctica either eats krill or eats something that eats krill,” Holly Parker Curry, ASOC’s marine protected areas campaign director, told Mongabay in a video call.

It’s the base of the food chain but krill biomass has declined by 70-80% in parts of the Southern Ocean since the 1970s. That’s roughly when people started harvesting the tiny crustaceans for aquaculture fish food and dietary supplements for people. Climate change and shrunken sea ice are also contributing the dramatic drop in krill populations; krill depend on sea ice for part of their life cycle.

In its said, “Antarctic krill is one of the best managed species in the world … [and] the total catch is limited to below 1% of the total biomass.”

Curry said that assessment is strictly accurate, but the devil is in the details.

“It’s not just about how much is caught, that’s important too, but it’s really where it’s caught,” Curry said. “A lot of the fishing for krill in the Southern Ocean, it all happens essentially in the Antarctic Peninsula, and in the past two years, it’s become increasingly localized.”

That localization began when a lapsed conservation measure meant fishing boats were no longer required to spread out across the region. Instead, they concentrated largely near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, which has the greatest concentration of krill in the region. That makes it the best place to harvest a lot of krill quickly — for both boats and wildlife.

The peninsula is a critical feeding ground for hundreds of species, including humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) and emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri).

“So, if you’re a breeding penguin and you live in this area and a huge amount of krill is being taken from that specific location, you’re being forced to travel further and further just to survive,” Curry said. It’s an additional burden for wildlife already struggling in one of the fastest-warming areas on Earth.

In an email to Mongabay an MSC spokesperson said, “The Marine Stewardship Council recognizes the sensitivity of the Antarctic ecosystem and the role of Antarctic krill as a keystone species within it.”

MSC added that the initial assessment was done by expert assessors with the Conformity Assessment Bodies. With ASOC’s formal objection, the certification will be examined again by independent adjudicators who will consider if the fishery is meeting MSC’s sustainability standards.

Banner image: A colony of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) near the Antarctic Peninsula. Image courtesy of Rob Oo via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0).