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Antarctic could pay a price for over fishing ‘Krill’
18/Sep/2006: Declining numbers of a small, shrimp-like marine invertebrate (Krill or Euphausiids) that is an important source of food to the whales, penguins, seals, sea birds and fishes in the Antarctic, is threatening the delicate marine ecosystem of the Antarctic.
Over fishing is root cause of this problem, with the vast krill banks in the Antarctic targeted by advanced factory trawlers that can catch up to 120,000 tonnes of krill in a season. Krill is commercially used as a food for industrially-grown salmon.
Since krill is at the near bottom of the food chain in the oceans, their decline could have a serious impact on the food web. The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) will meet in Australia, this October, to chart out measures to protect the Antarctic krill.
The harvest limits for krill set by the governments of different nations, do not consider the ecological relationship between the krill and other species dependent on it. This is having a serious impact on the delicate ecosystem of the oceans. Managing the krill population using the same control, monitoring and surveillance measures specified for other fisheries in the Antarctic, can help in addressing the declining krill numbers. Other measures that are being considered for protecting this species includes, appointing scientific observers on board trawlers, improving fisheries data reporting and tamper-proof monitoring systems.
Kesavan Siva
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