Media Release — Bob Brown Foundation 24 April 2025
Humpback whale killed in krill supertrawler net yet further evidence that industrial fishing must be banned in Antarctica.
A criminal complaint has been filed regarding a Humpback whale being killed by a krill supertrawler, the Chilean-flagged Antarctic Endeavour, in the pristine waters of the Antarctic. The complaint has been filed by the director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Service in Chile against the owner of the vessel and its master.
Images from the deck of the supertrawler show an approximately 10m long whale with a bloody jaw, trapped inside a net filled with krill. The death of this latest Humpback whale as a result of the krill fishery joins the tragic deaths of four whales in 2021-22 season and another four whales in 2023-24.
Bob Brown Foundation travelled to Antarctica in 2023 to expose and document the plunder of krill by supertrawlers and the ever-growing conflict between Antarctic wildlife and these massive fishing vessels. Bob Brown Foundation authored a report that found that krill from Antarctica was ending up on Australian supermarket shelves, chemists, and was even been used to feed Tasmanian farmed salmon, with one feed factory in Tasmania using 1,200 tonnes of krill a year.
Bob Brown Foundation is calling for a complete ban on industrial fishing anywhere in Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic and for the Australian government to support this call at the next Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic and Marine Living Resource (CCAMLR) meeting this October.
“Krill fishing is an environmental crime that must end,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.
“To have yet another whale killed further affirms that these krill supertrawlers are becoming the new whaling vessels of the Antarctic. Whether they kill whales in their nets or steal the whales’ primary food source right out of their mouths, these krill supertrawlers are a catastrophe for whales and Antarctic wildlife. Every year, supertrawlers from around the world descend upon the Antarctic krill population to plunder one of the world’s last great wildernesses for products we don’t even need. Krill are the foundation of the Antarctic ecosystem and targeting them must be banned. Antarctica should be a permanent refuge for wildlife, not a plunder zone for industrial supertrawlers,” said Alistair Allan.
Pesca Chile reacted through a public statement to the complaint published Wednesday by La Prensa Austral, about the accidental capture and subsequent death of a humpback whale, in sub-Antarctic waters, by a trawler of that company that was fishing for krill.
On March 25, 2025, while one of our ships operated in international waters, approximately 1,800 kilometers from Punta Arenas, there was an incidental capture involving a plunging whale specimen, which was found dead at the time of turning the net, indicates the company’s version.
He immediately adds that this type of incident, although rare, can occur within the framework of legal and regulated fishing operations, and are covered by the protocols established by national and international authorities.
With regard to the case, Pesca Chile states that the situation was reported immediately and in detail by the observer on board, assigned by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), as well as by the master of the ship, to the competent authorities. Among these, CCAMLR itself and the Chilean Antarctic Institute (Inach) were notified.
Finally, the company reaffirms its commitment to responsible fishing and strict compliance with applicable environmental and conservation regulations.
