Is "Pink Gold" Coming To Your Local Grocery Store Soon?
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 01.29.08
Growing to a mere 2.4 inches in size, krill are the small shrimp-like creatures which are perhaps one of the planet’s most plentiful life-forms in terms of weight, and are now in increasing demand for use in fish feed (less need for those artificial colorants for pinker salmon flesh), fish oil supplements, soy sauce and medicines. And now, they may also appear as an ingredient in your food.
Though krill are found in all oceans, they are aptly named “pink gold” for their abundance in the Southern Ocean. They are the keystone species of the regional ecosystems here – in effect, acting as the basic dietary staple for seals, whales, penguins and birds such as the tenacious snow petrels, which feed exclusively on krill and will fly more than 500 km (300 miles) from their inland nests to fish for them.
However, increasing human demand for fish oils high in Omega-3 fatty acids is causing concern that the krill populations could be competitively over-fished as more trawlers come in. Climate change and the possibility of melting ice shelves around Antarctica could also have a considerable impact, as the krill depend on the algal blooms that flourish around such areas.
Companies such as Norway’s Aker BioMarine, which plans to launch a krill oil diet supplement in 500 shops across the Nordic countries and the U.S. by March 2008, are working with WWF to ensure sustainable catches.
Aker BioMarine’s biggest competitor is Canada’s Neptune Technologies & Bioresources, which recently signed research agreements with Nestle and the Yoplait dairy division of U.S. food manufacturer General Mills to study the use of krill in foods. Just last week, further commercialization was made possible by an American panel which ruled that Neptune’s oil, which is already sold in capsule form, was also safe as a food ingredient.
So will the proliferation of krill-derived products mean over-fishing? With total annual krill catches coming to 120,000 tonnes out of the estimated 500 million tonnes in the Southern ocean, current catches are not seen as a threat to the vast stocks of krill.
"Krill is not over-fished ocean-wide ... we can still create a sustainable fishery," says Jerry Leape, director of the Antarctic Krill Conservation Project, part of the U.S.-based Pew Environment Group.
"But much of the fishery concentrates in areas where krill swarms are most convenient. And that is where many natural predators also depend on krill," he said, adding that trawlers should be required to spread catches around the continent.
::Environmental News Network
See also ::Aker BioMarine joins budding krill oil market, ::Neptune gains GRAS for NKO
Image: Richard Seaman
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it seems that krill could be farmed fairly easily too
Moving down the food chain is a good idea, right? I mean it obviously defeats the purpose if you deplete krill stocks to the point of meaningfully affecting their predators' populations, but, in general, for health and environmental reasons, isn't it smarter to eat low on the chain? I guess the fact that corn is cultivated rather than wild harvested makes the corn is to beef as krill is to salmon (do Atlantic salmon eat krill?) less than a perfect analogy. Hmmm. If anyone has thoughts on food chains, eating, and population dynamics, I'm curious.
The key is to get this right now! Instead of trying to reverse engineer a solution, like with many of the other fisheries, we should use our knowledge to make this industry sustainable from the start.
Just to remind people: with fish oil, in addition to the omega-3s, you get saturated fat and cholesterol. If you get your omega-3s from spinach (or other leafy greens), you don't get these two things, but you get a lot of good nutrients as well. All in all, while fish oil is OK, and whole fish is better, vegetables probably constitute the most efficient source of omega-3s.
I am personally tied to this controversy, in that I use Omega-3s to help treat a mood disorder. This goes along with several other aspects of my everyday existence that suggest I am an overly taxing force on the environment. I guess this is why I try to be as ecologically responsible as I can, where I can.
I admire those who drive gas-sipping vehicles, have low power computing requirements and don't eat the animals of this Earth, but I'm just not one of those people. I apologize for the thread-jack, this seemed an apt area to ask for assistance in economizing in the areas outside of those mentioned above.
I appreciate any help that is offered and recognize the need to change.
Thank you,
James
Go vegetarian people...
This is the same thing we saw with whale hunting - as we destroy the bulk of large species' populations, we focused on smaller and smaller creatures. This is even worse in the sense that no species depended on whales for sustenance, while krill form the basis of entire ecosystems. We mess with that base at our peril.
I think the big picture is being overlooked. Eating lower on the food chain? Come on! For people, we are talking fruits and vegetables, not the greatest source of food for marine life. Though krill has been harvested, once people start talking about it all over the world, do you really think that isn't going to have an impact? Marine life is already dealing with major problems with their breeding grounds and transitory paths...with garbage, ship traffic, NOISE, hunting, climate change...now we want to decimate the primary food for which everything depends? Krill is a keystone species...this means that many food chains and ecosystems depend on it. The absence of this simple little crustacean would affect many marine mammals and fish and the terrestrial animals that depend on them. Have we as a human society ever done anything totally sustainable? No, this is just the next victim to our need for greed. I also agree with Paul, in that, if we are looking to krill...that is saying alot about how overharvested many other options are.
Take out the foundation, the whole house comes down.
Krill has ben a common part of the powdered part of the Saimin ingrediants for many years. Now it is listed as "shrimp powder" but years before, it was called krill. Just look on your saimin package.
adrianakau@aol.com
"Take out the foundation, the whole house comes down."
i definatley aggree here. whats more obvious than the fact that these fish are the staples of the habitat? i cant say i think heading DOWN the food chain is a good idea when it's what all the other wildlife seem to rely on. It only means that the whole of them will suffer the effects.
and *salmon.
Best to get your Omega-3 from plant sources: Flax, hemp, walnuts, greens, seaweed, canola, etc.
Here is an article about the advantages of getting omega-3 from vegetarian sources instead of fish.
http://veg.ca/content/view/494/110/
Even DHA is now available in a form derived from seaweed. I just bought a bottle of flax oil fortified with DHA. Also your body can convert Omega-3 to DHA.
No need to Kill Krill. ;-)