Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to collaborate with other countries to seek to (1) control, and (2) conduct research into, the commercial fishing of krill close to the edge of the Antarctic ice sheet.

​The UK has been proactive within the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to strengthen the regulation of krill fishing around Antarctica. The British Antarctic Survey has led on a range of relevant scientific activities, including with international partners, to determine the abundance of krill, the factors that influence it's distribution, and the crucial role that krill plays in the Antarctic ecosystem. Work also includes studies to explore the overlap between fishing vessels and krill-eating seabirds and marine mammals, and the risks to these predators. The UK has proposed to CCAMLR that krill fishing activities should be moved offshore to avoid any potential overlap with the foraging areas of breeding wildlife. The UK has therefore welcomed the recent announcement by the Association of Responsible Krill Harvesting Operators (ARK) to voluntarily implement such measures. The UK also recently secured agreement by CCAMLR to protect marine areas that are newly exposed by ice shelf collapse or retreat around the Antarctic Peninsula.