Famed oceanographer calls for ending krill catch near Antarctica as governments debate fishing quota

ROME (AP) — Renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle is calling for an end to krill fishing near Antarctica as officials from the U.S., China, Russia and 24 other governments negotiate a possible deal this week to dramatically expand fishing for the crustacean that's a vital food source for whales in the international waters surrounding the ice-covered continent.

“There is no sustainable extraction of krill in Antarctica possible, period,” Earle, who in 1990 became the first woman to serve as chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in an interview in Rome, where she was promoting her conservation work. “Krill are critical to the integrity of the entire system — whales, fish, birds, seals, sea lions, you name it."

Her comments come as negotiators wrap up the annual meeting in Australia of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or CCAMLR, an international organization that manages the world’s southernmost fishery. The group has been deadlocked for years over an industry-backed management plan to expand krill fishing, which environmentalists and CCAMLR's own scientific committee insist should be accompanied by the long delayed creation of a California-sized marine protected area near the environmentally sensitive Antarctic peninsula that would restrict fishing. It was first proposed a decade ago by Argentina and Chile.

Krill fishing around Antarctica shut down early in August for the second year straight after trawlers from mostly Norway and China hit a 620,000 metric ton limit before the season's scheduled end.

The tiny crustaceans are primarily harvested for feed used to raise farmed fish and for the oil in red omega-3 capsules taken to improve heart, brain and joint health. But other sources of omega-3 exist — in fish oil, algae, even some vegetables — and nutritionists say it's not necessary to take dietary supplements if you eat a balanced diet rich in the fatty acids.

Researchers increasingly are also studying the role krill plays in removing huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Krill aren’t just a bulwark against climate change — they’re victims, too. As oceans warm, the krill populations, which need water colder than 4 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit) to survive, have started to migrate toward cooler waters closer to the South Pole, research has shown.

Earle, 91, was among those who pioneered the use of scuba diving to conduct marine research after launching her career in the 1950s studying algae. In recent years, “Her Deepness,” as she is sometimes known, has focused on conservation through Mission Blue, an organization that champions so-called “Hope Spots” in the oceans critical to marine health. Its work supports a United Nations target of protecting at least 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.

Although krill are one of the planet's largest biomasses, Earle, a vegetarian, said there was no “safe number” that can be extracted without harming the surrounding Antarctic ecosystem. She singled out for criticism Norway's Aker BioMarine, the pioneer in harvesting and marketing products made from krill. The company was founded by billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, who amassed a fortune in Norway's oil and gas industry.

“There’s one country, Norway, with one company really pushed essentially by one individual, that is responsible for taking about two-thirds of the krill to marketplace,” said Earle. “Some of it goes to make krill oil that has been marketed as good for our health. Maybe it is, but at what cost to the environment?"

“It’s all for choices. These are not necessities,” she added.

Rokke remains the largest shareholder in the company, which recently delisted from the Oslo stock exchange, through his Aker ASA industrial conglomerate. In 2024, Aker BioMarine spun off its fishing and krill meal operation, selling a majority stake to American Industrial Partners, a New York-based private equity firm.

Rokke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aker QRILL's Chairman, Matts Johansen, is attending the CCAMLR talks in Australia. Johansen over the past few years has tried to bridge differences among negotiators, pushing a proposed plan that would both increase the overall fishing quota but spread out the catch to avoid excessive pressure on any single hot spot. The company also supports the creation of a marine protected area near the Antarctic peninsula.

“Decades of independent science from multiple countries, including the latest assessment of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, support the sustainability of the Antarctic krill fishery,” Johansen, who is also CEO of Aker BioMarine, said in a statement. "We recognize the concerns around concentrated fishing activity, which is why we support stronger science-based spatial management. With El Niño putting pressure on global marine resources and omega-3 supplies, responsible fisheries like this matter more than ever."

Goodman reported from Miami

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FILE - China's Long Fa fishing vessel is followed by flocks of seabirds in the Southern Ocean off the coast of the South Orkney Islands, north of the Antarctic Peninsula, March 10, 2023. (AP Photo/David Keyton, File)

American marine biologist, oceanographer and Mission Blue founder Sylvia Earle speaks to The Associated Press ahead of a conference in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the Democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate in the state after revelations that her campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting another candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.

Dunleavy's order, posted overnight on social media, comes a day after President Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of Mary Peltola and her campaign.

In a race that's among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber, the Republican president had previously directed his Department of Justice to sue to block certification of it, demanding that Alaska be prevented from certifying a win by Peltola if Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. remains on the state's ballots.

Dunleavy wrote that reporting by The New York Times “reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes.”

“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy added, noting that the reporting “substantially supports” earlier findings by the state’s elections board into the matter.

Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won the election. “Well, you’re going to have to see what happens," the president told reporters on his way to a rally in South Carolina. "It’s hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”

Peltola’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a message Thursday seeking comment on Dunleavy’s order. But during a campaign stop in Soldotna, Peltola, a former congresswoman, suggested the Times’ report was a “distraction” from issues such as Sen. Sullivan’s support of the war in Iran.

“This is just another distraction. It’s another diversion,” she said in a video posted online. “This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions.”

And the situation in Alaska isn't that unusual. Political parties often support extra candidates on ballots to try to pull votes from their rivals. If state courts allow it, legal experts say, the federal government has no role challenging the results.

In Ohio’s Senate race, Republicans have been tied to an effort to boost a socialist on the ballot who would pull votes from the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Jon Husted.

On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance didn’t go as far as Trump did in calling for Peltola to be prosecuted but said he supported a probe into possible election fraud.

“I mean, she is a person who, for months now, has pretended that she has had nothing to do with the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters, on the ballot,” Vance told reporters ahead of a campaign trip to Texas. “She is trying to steal a Senate seat from the voters of Alaska, and it’s disgraceful.”

Earlier this year, a top state elections official ruled Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher in the small fishing community of Petersburg, ineligible for the primary ballot, concluding that his declaration of candidacy was filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”

The case went to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled he was qualified to run. He has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest and has said he had no contact with Peltola’s campaign: “Zero, none, zilch,” he said in June after announcing his run.

Alaskan voters will see “Dan S. Sullivan” identified as a “registered Republican” and “incumbent” on their ballots, while “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” will not have a party affiliation.

The New York Times reported that interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit showed Peltola’s team aimed to coax candidates into the race, with the aim of splitting support for the GOP senator.

Asked about the reporting on Wednesday, Trump told journalists, “I think they should be prosecuted.” He earlier had posted on social media that “Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done.”

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP. AP writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media before boarding Air Force Two for Texas, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Evan Vucci/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - This combination photo shows Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, left, in Palmer, Alaska, Aug. 17, 2026, and a candidate in Alaska's Senate race, Dan Sullivan, right, in Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026. (AP Photos/Mark Thiessen/Becky Bohrer, File)

FILE - Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks in the Oval Office of the White House during an event with President Donald Trump, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Mary Peltola, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska, addresses supporters at an election watch party on Aug. 18, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)