After two weeks of negotiations, the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the intergovernmental body responsible for the conservation of marine wildlife in the Southern Ocean, concluded with another deadlock over a 2018 proposal to create a 670,000-square-mile marine protected area (MPA) around the iconic Antarctic Peninsula.

The proposal failed to pass for the seventh year in a row, despite the resolute efforts of conservationists who continue to rally behind an initiative that remains opposed by only two of the 27 Member States: The People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.

Any conservation measure proposed at CCAMLR requires unanimous support from member states, a rule that has repeatedly frustrated efforts to protect one of the world’s most vital krill habitats. Krill, a small shrimp-like crustacean, is the primary food source for baleen whales, making the Antarctic Peninsula one of the most important feeding grounds for fin and humpback whales globally.

CCAMLR meets every year to make ecologically critical decisions regarding the krill fishery, including the creation of MPAs and the setting of the trigger catch limit, essentially the total amount of krill that can be exploited before the fishery is closed for the season.

Last year, a critical conservation measure requiring that the total extraction of krill be dispersed over a wider geographical area, and aimed at reducing the risk of local depletion, was not renewed. The lapse of this longstanding conservation framework without a replacement plan has raised renewed concerns for krill populations, particularly around the Antarctic Peninsula.

The Antarctic krill fishery’s unprecedented early closure in advance of the end of last year’s season may be because that distribution of fishing effort is problematic. Without the move-on clause, the environmental impact of the krill fishery is more concentrated than ever before as the entire catch can be taken from a single area, usually in whale, seal and penguin feeding grounds,

One of the strongest arguments for establishing the MPA is that the density of krill around the Antarctic Peninsula—where much of the fishing effort is now concentrated—may have declined by as much as 80% since the 1970s. Researchers believe that this precipitous drop in krill abundance is also affecting populations of Adélie and chinstrap penguins, whose numbers have fallen by 42% and 68%, respectively, over the past forty years.

A 2023 peer-reviewed study found that krill availability is also limiting and affecting the reproductive rates of humpback whales, specifically naming “continued ocean warming and increased fishing” as responsible for a reduction in krill populations, likely impacting the whales. Pregnancy rates for humpback whales in the Western Antarctic Peninsula dropped from 86% in 2017 to 29% in 2020 following reduced krill availability.

As crucial conservation measures are either overturned or blocked, and as krill—and the wildlife that depend on it—continue to decline, the krill fishing industry is expanding.

At the CCAMLR meeting, authorization was given to the People’s Republic of China to license a newly constructed 15,255-ton, 138-meter krill supertrawler that is set to become the largest fishing vessel operating in the Antarctic this coming season.

While the diplomacy stalemate persists, momentum is building in the retail and consumer space. Now more than ever, it is incumbent upon businesses and individuals to act where governments have failed.

The day before the CCAMLR meeting concluded, the somber mood among conservation delegates was buoyed by a landmark announcement from health and wellness giant Holland & Barrett. With more than 1,000 stores across 19 countries, the company declared it will cease sourcing all krill-based products in line with its commitment to protecting fragile ecosystems. It is the first major retailer in the United Kingdom to do so.

The decision follows extensive discussions with representatives from Sea Shepherd Global, who shared photographic evidence depicting super trawlers operating among foraging whale pods in an area of such ecological importance that it’s been proposed as a marine protected area annually for nearly a decade.

Read more about Sea Shepherd's campaign to defend Antarctica