So you know those crabby little shrimp things that gather in huge swarms?… Yea, me too. I’ve seen them quite a few a few times and I’m aware of their existence, but I never knew what they were called or anything further about them. Well, they’re called krill and they, too, are in danger of overfishing.
A single krill
Scientists just recently discovered this when investigating in the Southern Ocean why some swarms are bigger than others, according to a BBC article by Matt Walker. Krill are known for forming some of the largest gatherings of life on the planet. What the scientists found was that the larger groups tended to be tightly packed in areas where there was less food, and they were formed by younger krill. Meanwhile, the smaller groups were more diffuse and made up of more mature krill.
This species was never expected to be one that is vulnerable to overfishing, but once scientists got to the bottom of things, it all began to make sense. Even though there are swarms of krill containing trillions of them, once fishing fleets locate them in the ocean, they usually pick up entire swarms, and they most likely scoop up the larger swarms. And especially because there are only a few swarms gathered in the Southern Ocean, this means that they are removing the majority of the krill population from the entire ocean.
A Handful of Krill
