Krill oil is an extract prepared from a species of antarctic krill, Euphausia superba .

And this map shows not how many krill there are, but how many clumps of krill there are, how aggregated are they.

Meat does not fall from an empty krill.

This is how many krill are in this area of the ocean.

Red areas represent lots of krill and purple basically none.

The Southern Ocean contains the largest population of krill in the world.

And yet krill fishing is projected to grow.

37. The ecological implications of krill fishing were also discussed at the XIIth CCAMLR meeting.

Moreover, krill fishing has recently been fueled by new technological advances such as vacuum pumps, which allow a single fishing vessel to catch and process huge amounts up to 120,000 metric tons per season.

This would help avoid local competition between krill vessels and the creatures that need krill to live, since krill fishing closely overlaps with the critical foraging areas for penguins and seals.

Fishery plans are available for all krill, icefish and toothfish fisheries in the Convention Area.

It is most likely related to a decline in krill due to retreating pack ice in the area.

Unfortunately, recent research indicates that expanded krill fishing might put the Antarctic ecosystem at risk.

35. Total krill fishing in all Antarctic waters during 1992 93 was reduced to 88,000 tonnes.

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources requires reporting of krill catches in Antarctica.

Or the Antarctic, where the continent is protected, but the surrounding ocean is being stripped of its krill, whales and fish.

The CCAMLR has pioneered ecosystem and precautionary approaches to fisheries management, which are now central to maintaining Antarctic krill.

Algae feed large swarms of Antarctic krill, which are the main food for large predators, including the region s Adélie penguins.

The CCAMLR should also apply to krill fishing the same monitoring, control, and surveillance measures that it requires for all other fisheries.

And what they've told us is that how many krill there are really isn't important. It is how closely spaced those krill are because that's how they are able to make a living.

Although each krill may only grow to weigh about two grams, together they constitute one of the most abundant animal species on Earth.

Two independent studies also showed a correlation between variations in krill biomass and breeding birds in Subantarctic islands and the El Niño phenomenon.

Representatives from the world s major fishing nations, meeting this fall in Australia, have an opportunity to limit krill catches, thereby helping creatures that need krill to survive.

Furthermore, demand for krill products from fish oil and feed to skin creams and other cosmetics has increased over the past 20 years.

Although the needs of krill dependent species were previously considered for large areas of the Southern Ocean, the CCAMLR must still scientifically subdivide the overall catch limit into smaller units.

41. Penguins are one of the top predators in the Antarctic food chain, especially of krill, and knowledge of their numbers and habits is essential to understanding their role in the ecosystem.

Antarctic krill must not be fished to feed the fish farms of the world while starving the penguins, seals, whales, and other species whose survival depends on these tiny, but vitally important, creatures.

Japan presented a paper concluding that, since krill catches in a sub area were low compared to the local krill biomass, it was unlikely that the fishery would be having an adverse effect on predators.

But what makes the Ross Sea important is the vast sea of pack ice that in the spring and summer provides a wealth of phytoplankton and krill that supports what, till recently, has been a virtually intact near shore ecosystem.

36. For the third year, the CCAMLR secretariat carried out an analysis which showed that the krill fishery (sub areas 48.1 and 48.2) overlaps the foraging ranges of krill dependent predators at a critical time of year (from December to March, when the foraging range is restricted by dependent offspring).