The Expansion plan for the Antarctic krill fishing without strict guardrails poses a significant threat to the survival of Baleen Whales with its fragile comeback risking to be halted or even reversed.
- Along the Antarctic Peninsula, the fishing industry has proposed increasing the catch limit fourfold, from 155,000 tons to 668,101 tons annually.
About Baleen Whales
- Also known as Whalebone Whales, they are marine mammals of the parvorder Mysticeti Family which use baleen plates (or “whalebone”) instead of teeths to hunt.
- Baleen whales evolved from toothed whale ancestors.
- Family: There are 14 species of baleen whale grouped into four families. The number, size and colour of the baleen plates are unique for each whale species.
- Balaenidae (right and bowhead whales)
- Balaenopteridae (rorquals)
- Eschrichtiidae (the gray whale)
- Cetotheriidae (the pygmy right whale)
Size: Baleen whales range in size from the 6 m (20 ft) and 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) pygmy right whale to the 31 m (102 ft) and 190 t (210 short tons) blue whale (the largest known animal to have ever existed)- Baleen Plates: The whales have baleen made of the protein Keratin instead of teeth using which they filter, sift, sieve or trap the whales’ favourite prey ie. shrimp-like krill, plankton and small fish from the sea inside their mouths
- Filter Feeders: Most baleen whales use a strategy called Lunge Feeding or Skim-Feeding ie. targeting large, dense swarms of krills by opening their mouth wide enough to take as many krills before closing their jaws.
- They then force the seawater out through the bristly baleen plates in their mouths filtering the krill from the water.
- Whales on an average feed for roughly 100 days out of each year with an adult whale consuming one to six tons of krill in a day.
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- Migratory Species: Most species of baleen whale migrate long distances from high latitude waters (Arctic and Antarctic) during spring and summer months to more tropical waters during winter months.
- Example: The Gray Whale has the longest recorded migration of any mammal, with one traveling 23,000 kilometers (14,000 mi) from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Baja Peninsula
- Threats:
- Conflict with the Fishing Industry: The whales are competing with fishing boats for their sole food supply with direct overlapping between foraging whales and active fishing operations being common.
- Industrial Fishing for Antarctic krill: These are tiny approx 6 cm long swimming crustaceans and the primary food source of the Baleen Whales
- Antarctic Krills are being hunted for mainly use in 2 industries ie. fish meal for aquaculture, and omega-3 dietary supplements.
- Entanglement: Whales can get caught in fishing gear, such as ropes, lines, nets, and aquaculture equipment.
- Example: From 2021 through 2023, four humpback whales died after becoming entangled in krill fishing nets.
- Commercial whaling: Though commercial whaling has been significantly reduced, it has had a lasting impact on baleen whale populations
- Example: In the 20th century, whalers killed roughly 2 million large whales in the Southern Ocean.
- Noise: Anthropogenic noise sources from ships and oil and gas development can disrupt whale communication and hearing, making it harder for them to feed, breed, and migrate.
- Protection:
- International Whaling Commission (IWC): The IWC has a moratorium on commercial whaling, and the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) prohibits the commercial trade of certain species.
- The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources: The organisation is required to ensure that whales and other krill-dependent populations are not harmed due to fishing in the Southern Ocean.
- World Wildlife Fund (WWF): The WWF’s Protecting Whales and Dolphins Initiative works to protect whale habitats, document critical areas, and establish sanctuaries.
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Antarctic krill
- A Krill is a general term used to describe about 86 species of crustaceans found in open oceans. They belong to the group of crustaceans called euphausiids.
- Antarctic krill is one of the most abundant and successful animal species on the planet. Their abundance is a result of the reddish-brown colour of the sea.
- Antarctic krill is one of 5 species of krill that lives in the Southern Ocean, south of the Antarctic convergence.
- Scientific name: Euphausia superba
- Population: They may be small individually, but there is an estimated 400 million tonnes of Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean.
- Social Behaviour: Antarctic krill aggregate in schools or swarms, where the density of the animal can be as high as 30,000 individuals per cubic metre. The swarms occur in larger groupings or patches
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September 14, 2024
