Antarctica’s ecosystem is collapsing and few people even know it’s happening. At the center of this crisis is a tiny creature with enormous importance:Antarctic krill. These small shrimp-like crustaceans feed the whales, seals, penguins, and seabirds of the Southern Ocean. They are the keystone of the Antarctic food web and the foundation of life for the largest animals on Earth.
Industrial trawlers are strip-mining the Southern Ocean, sucking up krill by the hundreds of thousands of tonnes each season to produce feed for farmed salmon and supplements for human consumption. Last season, fleets caught their full quota of 620,000 tonnes in record time the fastest harvest in history.
The krill fishery has long been dominated by Norway’s AKER Biomarine, but in recent years China has rapidly expanded its fleet, joined by vessels from South Korea, Chile, and Ukraine. The result is an escalating race to take as much of the quota as possible, as fast as possible before the ocean has a chance to recover.
The cost of this exploitation is devastating. Krill are not only food for whales, they are also a critical carbon sink, absorbing and storing an estimated 12 billion tonnes of carbon per year. Their loss accelerates both ecological collapse and climate breakdown. As krill disappear, so too will the whales, and the planet’s ability to regulate its own climate.
“If the oceans die, we die,” says Captain Paul Watson. “Krill are the blood of the sea. Without them, the whales, penguins, fish and birds will starve, and the ocean will fall silent.”
In early 2026, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, in collaboration with Sea Shepherd France, will launch KRILL WARS 2026, a mission to protect the Antarctic ecosystem from industrial plunder. We are preparing two ships, the John Paul DeJoria and the MV Bandero, to sail into harm’s way to stop the destruction caused by industrial krill trawlers operating in the Southern Ocean.
As the High Seas Treaty comes into effect in 2026, the world stands at a turning point. This treaty offers hope but without enforcement, it is meaningless. That is why the Captain Paul Watson Foundation and Sea Shepherd France are taking action, to hold nations accountable, and to defend the foundation of the Antarctic.
“Our purpose is to uphold international conservation law, to act when governments refuse to take action, to challenge the disregard for laws and to establish a legal precedent for intervention for the High Seas Treaty for the protection of biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions.” – Captain Paul Watson
Save the krill. Save the whales. Save ourselves.
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