{"id":942112,"date":"2026-10-27T00:24:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T00:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/942112\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T00:24:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T00:24:27","slug":"ccamlr-conference-our-antarctica-stages-krill-protest-in-hobart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/942112\/","title":{"rendered":"CCAMLR conference: Our Antarctica stages krill protest in Hobart"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cAntarctic Avengers\u201d have descended on Hobart to do battle with their arch-nemesis: Norway, the world\u2019s leading harvester of krill.<\/p>\n

The unlikely setting for the high-stakes stoush is Wrest Point Hotel and Casino, where the 45th annual conference of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is taking place from October 19-30.<\/p>\n

Our Antarctica, an international campaign uniting some of the globe\u2019s foremost scientists and ocean experts \u2013 dubbed the Antarctic Avengers \u2013 co-ordinated a protest at the riverside Sandy Bay venue on Monday.<\/p>\n

Activists from the Bob Brown Foundation were also present, waving banners emblazoned with slogans, including \u2018Whales need krill, supertrawlers don\u2019t\u2019, while a boat carrying a large billboard also cruised past the casino.<\/p>\n

Antarctic krill, considered the most crucial component of the Southern Ocean\u2019s food chain, are now under pressure on two fronts, facing the double threat of climate change and industrial fishing.<\/p>\n

Norway is known as the major player in krill fishing, with campaigners noting it accounted for about 63 per cent of global Antarctic krill harvesting between 2013-23.<\/p>\n

Dr Sylvia Earle, a marine biologist and founder of Mission Blue, warned that further reductions in the krill population would have catastrophic ecological consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cKrill are not a commodity to be extracted at scale for aquaculture feed, consumer supplements and cosmetics,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are the foundation of the Southern Ocean, and industry is treating them as expendable in pursuit of profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norwegian company Aker QRILL, the biggest krill harvester on the planet, claimed earlier this year that it wanted additional marine conservation measures implemented in Antarctica and was not interested in expanding its fishing activity.<\/p>\n

A mobile billboard parked at the road into Wrest Point from Sandy Bay Rd read \u2018This year, NORWAY! Prioritise conservation, not commercial interests. Get the MPAs done\u2019.<\/p>\n

MPA stands for marine protected area, an officially designated zone where certain activities by humans are restricted in order to preserve and protect marine life and habitats.<\/p>\n

There are three current MPA proposals under consideration by CCAMLR, including the Antarctic Peninsula (Domain 1) MPA, which was first presented to the body\u2019s scientific committee by Argentina and Chile in 2017 and is supported by Australia.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s conference, the CCAMLR will again consider the proposals, while also assessing the advice of its scientific committee regarding krill fishery management.<\/p>\n

The CCAMLR is headquartered in Hobart.<\/p>\n

robert.inglis@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cAntarctic Avengers\u201d have descended on Hobart to do battle with their arch-nemesis: Norway, the world\u2019s leading harvester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[509252,509216,509259,509224,509235,509253,252782,452481,509223,509241,509249,509256,460281,172855,509237,509251,509240,509218,509254,509204,509257,509260,6391,509231,509236,64,63,484211,13815,509221,509226,138024,509208,32092,509238,68,102849,2929,47045,509227,29809,509248,376920,75,457697,509250,509207,509244,12804,33904,509245,1695,509196,509201,42874,509222,156114,509214,509255,97651,509199,509205,139076,21839,509219,509230,509246,5948,1655,355577,18847,140650,509229,38639,128,91363,509209,509202,389076,509210,509247,509217,509200,245970,509215,509225,29023,509232,509220,265132,381789,509233,509206,509242,509198,509212,397651,509243,509203,379937,439820,509258,54798,509211,199184,364611,509213,509239,509228,18204,509234,509197],"class_list":["post-942112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-s-conference","tag-s-food-chain","tag-s-foremost-scientists-and-ocean-experts","tag-s-leading-harvester","tag-s-scientific-committee","tag-2013-23-dr-sylvia-earle","tag-252782","tag-a-boat","tag-a-commodity","tag-a-famed-hobart-venue","tag-a-large-billboard","tag-a-marine-biologist-and-founder","tag-a-protest","tag-a-group","tag-about-63","tag-additional-marine-conservation-measures","tag-an-eye-catching-protest","tag-an-international-campaign","tag-an-international-conference","tag-an-officially-designated-zone","tag-antarctic-avengers","tag-antarctic-marine-living-resources","tag-antarctica","tag-aquaculture-feed","tag-argentina-and-chile","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-at","tag-battle","tag-campaigners","tag-catastrophic-ecological-consequences","tag-ccamlr","tag-ccamlr-conference","tag-cent","tag-certain-activities","tag-climate-change","tag-commercial-interests","tag-conservation","tag-consideration","tag-consumer-supplements-and","tag-cosmetics","tag-domain-1","tag-earlier-this-year","tag-environment","tag-expendable","tag-further-reductions","tag-global-antarctic-krill-harvesting","tag-global-conference","tag-hobart","tag-humans","tag-industrial-fishing-norway","tag-industry","tag-its-fishing-activity-a-mobile-billboard","tag-its-scientific-committee","tag-krill","tag-krill-fishery-management-the","tag-krill-fishing","tag-krill-harvesting","tag-marine-life-and-habitats-there","tag-marine-protected-area","tag-mission-blue","tag-monday-activists","tag-mpa","tag-norway","tag-norwegian-company-aker-qrill","tag-october-19-30-our-antarctica","tag-our-antarctica-protest","tag-place","tag-pressure","tag-prioritise","tag-profit","tag-pursuit","tag-sandy-bay-rd","tag-scale","tag-science","tag-slogans","tag-supertrawlers","tag-the-45th-annual-conference","tag-the-advice","tag-the-antarctic-avengers","tag-the-antarctic-peninsula","tag-the-biggest-krill-harvester","tag-the-bob-brown-foundation","tag-the-body","tag-the-casino-antarctic-krill","tag-the-ccamlr","tag-the-commission","tag-the-conservation","tag-the-double-threat","tag-the-foundation","tag-the-globe","tag-the-high-stakes-stoush","tag-the-krill-population","tag-the-major-player","tag-the-most-crucial-component","tag-the-mpas","tag-the-planet","tag-the-proposals","tag-the-riverside-sandy-bay-venue","tag-the-road","tag-the-southern-ocean","tag-the-unlikely-setting","tag-the-world","tag-their-arch-nemesis","tag-this-week","tag-this-year","tag-three-current-mpa-proposals","tag-two-fronts","tag-waving-banners","tag-whales","tag-wrest-point","tag-wrest-point-hotel-and-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}