Two humpback whales were found dead and another seriously injured this year in huge nets used to collect krill for fishmeal and omega-3 pills near Antarctica, The Associated Press has learned.
The whale deaths, which have not been previously reported, were discussed during recent negotiations between the U.S., China, Russia and two dozen other countries in which officials failed to make progress on long-debated conservation goals and lifted some fishing limits in the Southern Ocean that have been in place since 2009.
Taken together, the whale deaths and rollback of the catch limits represent a setback for the remote krill fishery, which has boomed in recent years and is set to expand even further following the acquisition of its biggest harvester, Norway’s Aker BioMarine, by a deep-pocketed American private equity firm.
Farming has a larger upfront Capex and risk, anybody can drag a net in the ocean. Farmers are also very conservative folk, even factory farmers.
Once someone funds the first successful krill farm, hopefully some salmon or tilapia farm down in southern Brazil or Argentina, then everyone will copy them at scale.
Which would be awesome, krill is an excellent protein, should be efficient to farm, and we can learn to flavor it, make a whole new field of cuisine.