Why is Whole Foods Pulling Krill Oil from Its Shelves?

Recently Whole Foods Market, a major retailer of natural and organic products, announced that it was removing krill-oil products from its stores. The official statement said, in part: “Declines of some predator populations in the areas where the krill fishery operates suggest that fishery management needs to better understand how to evaluate the prey requirements of other marine species in order to set sustainable catch levels for krill.”

I hope my readers realize that it can be tough to find factual, science-based information about krill oil, or just about any other supplement on the Internet. Krill oil is rich in omega-3s, phospholipids, asatxanthin and choline, all of which have lots of science-backed health benefits.

Most everything in cyberspace is marketing hype, some marketer’s attempt to sell his krill-oil product, or his competitor’s desire to sell a competing omega-3 product. Krill oil has suffered this image problem ever since coming onto the market, and this problem owes far more to endlessly repeated rumor and innuendo than to fact, as well as the fact that no one wants to take the food out of the mouths of whales and penguins.

I spoke with a PR company that represents Whole Foods in Colorado about the decision, but all I was told is that the “issue is under review.” I would hope so. I’m sure that whoever made the decision did so out of sincere motives and legitimate concerns for the Antarctic marine ecosystem. But it appears he or she did so without even an elementary knowledge of the rigorous management system in place to protect krill.

The truth about krill in the Antarctic
However, the truth is out there if one digs deeply enough … or asks the right person.
To find out, I turned to Dr. Simeon Hill, a senior scientific officer of at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) at Cambridge, England. BAS is one of the world's leading environmental research centers and is responsible for the UK's national scientific activities in Antarctica. It is an active participant in the international treaty organization called the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) that formed back in 1982 specifically to manage Antarctic fisheries, protect the predators that depend on fished species, and protect the Antarctic krill fishery.

Dr. Hill said, "It seems likely that Whole Foods' decision is based on an appeal to emotions. However, they don't seem to be applying the same strict criteria on sustainability across their whole range of products. I would argue that sustainability is a far greater issue in many other fisheries than in the krill fishery.”

Well now, that certainly is a different perspective.

The “strict criteria” he may be referring to here is the fact that 95 percent or more of Antarctic krill is harvested for fish farms, including those for salmon. If Whole Foods was knowledgeable about this, it might more appropriately be concerned about selling farmed salmon rather than krill oil, which accounts for less than two percent of the harvest.

Science is key to managing the krill fishery

Counting living creatures in the sea is tough, but CCAMLR uses what it calls a “precautionary approach” to minimize the risks to krill and its predators. Firstly, CCAMLR scientists have determined that the total sustainable catch for krill is 3.47 million metric tons per year. Secondly, even further safeguards have been put into place, mandating that when the catch reaches a “trigger level” of just 620,000 metric tons the fishery must close for the season.

CCAMLR scientists determined this “trigger level” from historical records, which show no evidence of the krill fishery harming predators. Thirdly, there are restrictions on where the fishery can operate and how much of the “trigger level” it can catch in each area. Finally, current annual catches are around 200,000 metric tons, a third of the “trigger level” or a mere six percent of the sustainable catch.

Again, Dr. Hill: “The potential effect on predatory species is precisely why we’re taking such precautions in the fishery.”

There are just nine ships currently licensed to fish for krill in the Antarctic, and as of last year half of them are required to have scientific observers on board to ensure that the catch limits are not being surpassed.

“Good management recognizes and minimizes these dangers,” Dr. Hill says. “CCAMLR takes a very precautionary approach. The bottom line is that the fishery is only allowed to take a fifth of the sustainable catch and there are also spatial restrictions designed to protect predators.”

The truth, he says, is that “the krill fishery is managed much better that many other fisheries in the world.”