#Wildlife
Article·11 min read

The secret life of Antarctic krill / Rodolfo Werner

Rodolfo Werner

Krill, a small shrimp-like crustacean, underpins the food web of the entire Antarctic marine ecosystem. Yet climate change and the concentration of krill fishing in just a few areas are a threat to their existence, and therefore to the existence of all species in Antarctica.

Image © Pete Lindzinskey

Rodolfo Werner
Sep 13, 2020

Image © Pete Lindzinskey

I didn’t know I would actually get to visit Antarctica one day, but since I was a kid the ice continent attracted me in a way that transcends the intellectual, and I found myself always dreaming about venturing into Antarctica and becoming a polar explorer.
An iceberg with a blue shine in Cierva Cove, Antarctica · Rodolfo Werner
Antarctic krill is one of the most abundant species in the world, with a biomass estimated to exceed that of all the people on the planet.
“Antarctic krill underpins the food web of the Antarctic marine ecosystem” · Rodolfo Werner
The Antarctic krill fishery is gradually altering the location of the best foraging grounds for other species like penguins · Rodolfo Werner
The current situation of many Adélie and chinstrap penguin colonies in the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula is worrying. Their numbers have decreased by 50 percent in the last 30 years.
A pod of orcas swims toward a crabeater seal on floating ice. Antarctica is experiencing a massive reduction in sea ice due to a warming climate. · Rodolfo Werner
Also known as the “Krill Convention,” CCAMLR seeks to conserve Antarctic marine life through research, monitoring, and the application of conservation measures.
Rodolfo Werner on expedition in Antarctica, in the Gerlache Strait separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula · Rodolfo Werner
“Despite being the most frigid place on Earth, and perhaps because of it, Antarctica can have a very special effect on your soul—at least I know it did for me” · Rodolfo Werner
After so many years working on Antarctic issues, I am convinced that economic arguments are becoming increasingly less important when it comes to the conservation of Antarctica. This is because Antarctica should not be measured by its economic value, but by the value of its beauty and its role in maintaining balance for our planet.
Contributors

Rodolfo Werner

Wildlife conservationist

Rodolfo is a wildlife conservationist from Argentina who has devoted many years of his career to the study and conservation of Patagonian wildlife, marine mammals, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. He has consulted for many international conservation organizations on issues such as marine protected areas, Antarctic krill, fisheries, policy, and marine mammals. Dr. Werner is currently an advisor to ASOC and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Petitions in the US

Urge the U.S. Government to Protect the Pacific Remote Islands
Help Advance an Indigenous-Led Marine Sanctuary in California

Short films

The Ocean Solution

Farming under the sea? Meet Bren Smith, the ocean farming pioneer whose vertical kelp and shellfish farms can transform the way food is produced. As a commercial fisherman, Bren’s career was nearly wrecked by the crashing cod stocks in the North Atlantic; he then turned to oyster farming, just in time for catastrophic, climate-driven storms to show him there wasn’t a solid future in that, either. Unwilling to tether himself to land, he took the hard lessons learned and returned to the sea with a new method of restorative ocean farming. What he discovered is a way to produce large quantities of nutritious food that fights the climate crisis, cleans the ocean, creates aquatic habitat, and sustains his sea-going way of life.

Video·14:00
Blue Carbon

Blue Carbon is about mud and the multiple benefits that estuaries provide for us. As wetlands ecologist John Rybczyk says, “You never go into a wetland and just restore one benefit.” It improves water quality, provides salmon habitat, protects our shorelines, and also benefits our climate. In 2018, Restore America’s Estuaries led a first-of-its-kind study in the Snohomish Estuary of Puget Sound, Washington to quantify the climate benefits of estuary restoration. This short film helps to build awareness of blue carbon (carbon that’s captured and stored by coastal wetlands) as a climate mitigation tool and to encourage more investment in wetland restoration at local, state, and federal levels.

Video·05:47

Long reads in #Wildlife

10 years of diving with the wonders of the open ocean / Jorge Cervera Hauser

Since starting to regularly venture out into the pelagic zone 10 years ago, Jorge Cervera Hauser has filmed and photographed some of the most fascinating marine species on the planet. He spoke to us about finding new ways of doing conservation and working alongside fishing communities in Mexico to develop open ocean ecotourism.

Article·6 min read
The Cocos-Galápagos Swimway / A route for life

For 20 days, a team of expeditioners set out to tag sharks along the Cocos-Galápagos Swimway, all in the effort of protecting marine species from human pressures. For one grant-winning participant, it was a novel experience and a renewal of hope.

Article·9 min read
Protecting Costa Rica’s waters through research, advocacy, and the courtroom / Randall Arauz

As a scientist, activist, and environmental policy plaintiff, Randall Arauz has seen how doing diligent research in the field is a pathway to enacting change in the courtroom. With his attention now focused on the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, he’s looking to once again use data-driven science to preserve this jeopardized ecosystem and the small-scale fishers who depend on it.

Article·5 min read
The struggle for our blue heart / Max Bello

Many of us are deeply disconnected from the ocean, the origin of our very existence. Stuck as we are to land, it’s become easy to see the ocean as an endless dumpster for our wastes, a source to feed all our wild consumption. But collective movements give us hope, and creating and expanding strong marine protected areas can bring back the richness and abundance of ocean life.

Article·6 min read
Provinsi Konservasi / The jewel in the crown of biodiversity

In 2015, West Papua declared the world’s first conservation province. There’s so much we can celebrate about and learn from this visionary legislation rooted in ancient wisdom.

Article·10 min read
Rays of hope for Lofoten / Uniting against oil drilling in Norway’s fjords

The cold fjords surrounding Lofoten in Norway display an orca ballet, and a remarkable feeding behavior that few have ever seen. In 2019, the courage of young people protected this area of natural beauty from oil drilling.

Article·11 min read
The mako shark / Mindless man-eater or magnificent predator?

When we think of sharks as mindless killers, we forget their vital place in the ocean ecosystem. But targeted for their prized fins and meat, mako sharks desperately need protections from us.

Article·12 min read
Titouan Bernicot / Defender of the Reef

Titouan Bernicot discovered at age 16 that the beautiful and vital corals surrounding his island home of Mo'orea were dying. Taking it upon himself to restore the reef, he founded the nonprofit Coral Gardeners. Here he tells his story.

Article·12 min read