For the fourth year in a row, Sea Shepherd has returned to its old battlegrounds to confront a new threat to the last true wilderness on Earth: Antarctica.
Monstrous krill trawlers are moving through pristine Southern Ocean waters, stripping away the foundation of life in Antarctica. Krill, a keystone species that sustains whales, seals, penguins, and seabirds, is being extracted at industrial scale for supplements, pet food, and fish farm feed.
Now, Sea Shepherd’s vessel Allankay and its crew return with renewed strength, determination, new tactics, and a brand-new web series:
Edge of the World: Krill Crisis
This series follows Sea Shepherd’s return to Antarctica as the campaign unfolds in real time. Each episode is created on the water, unscripted and unplanned, documenting what the crew witnesses as they head south and confront the krill fleet without knowing what will be revealed next.
A New Threat in Familiar Waters
When illegal whaling was forced out of the Southern Ocean, many believed Antarctica had finally been secured. But this episode makes clear that protection did not last. Instead of harpoons, whales now face industrial fishing vessels extracting their primary food source.
Throughout the episode, scientists and crew observe whales feeding directly alongside krill trawlers, surfacing behind fishing vessels that are netting dense krill aggregations from the same waters.
“We are hearing the whales and seeing them right behind the fishing vessel, competing for exactly the same resource. There is no doubt that this is not sustainable.”
Why Krill Matter
Krill are the backbone of the Antarctic ecosystem. They convert energy from phytoplankton into food that supports nearly all life in the Southern Ocean. Without krill, the ecosystem destabilizes.
Yet today, industrial supertrawlers operate between the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Islands, targeting the same feeding grounds used by recovering whale populations. Much of this fishing takes place in data-deficient areas, where long-term ecological impacts remain poorly understood.
As documented in the episode, krill harvested from Antarctic waters is marketed as sustainable, even as fishing effort becomes more concentrated and protections weaken.
Why Sea Shepherd Is Back
Sea Shepherd first came to Antarctica more than twenty years ago to defend whales from illegal whaling. After those campaigns ended, there was hope that constant intervention was no longer necessary.
This series shows why that assumption was wrong.
The krill fishery operates legally under current regulations, but legality does not guarantee sustainability. Protecting Antarctica now requires a different kind of confrontation—one built on evidence, documentation, independent science, and pressure on the industries and markets driving extraction.
Edge of the World: Krill Crisis captures that effort as it happens, episode by episode, as Sea Shepherd returns to the Southern Ocean to expose what is unfolding in one of the most remote places on Earth.
