Industrial fishing of the tiny crustacea in a dietary supplements gold rush is threatening the very base of the food chain
• This article was produced with the Environmental Reporting Collective, whose full report is part of the Oceans Inc collaborative investigative series on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
It’s a costly expedition, through some of the roughest seas in the world, to reach the Antarctic peninsula. A journey through Drake Passage to Subarea 48.1 faces treacherous weather, where waves can reach 12 metres (40ft) high.
And yet it is a risk that 14 vessels considered worth taking last year alone, as countries increasingly venture into the Antarctic to catch a species with great value to the billion-dollar health supplement industry: krill.