Monday, August 11th marks World Krill Day – a moment that brings us back to conversations we’ve been having about Antarctica as planetary commons and what governance adequate to our moment might look like.
In our previous dialogues, we’ve explored how Antarctica sits at the heart of our shared future, not just as a distant wilderness but as a critical planetary system. World Krill Day offers a lens into why these conversations matter – and why they’re becoming more urgent.
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) embody the contradictions we’ve been exploring around planetary commonts. These thumb-sized crustaceans represent one of the most pivotal species on Earth, with an estimated 400-500 million tonnes in the Southern Ocean and a similar global biomass to humans. They form swarms so vast they can be seen from space and comprise what may be the largest biomass of any animal species except humans.
Yet we’re instrumentalising the foundation of the world’s largest wilderness for livestock feed.
What made this more concrete this year: for the first time since records began in 1973, the Antarctic krill fishery hit its seasonal catch limit and had to shut down early. The industry has been expanding precisely when Antarctic ecosystems face mounting pressures from climate change. Meanwhile, major private equity firms continue investing in krill harvesting operations – another reminder of how humans turn nature into ventures
This connects to themes we’ve been exploring about the gap between how we talk about sustainability and what’s actually happening on the ground. Most harvested krill becomes feed for farmed fish and shrimp – we’re extracting from wild marine ecosystems to sustain artificial ones.
Beyond being food webs, krill are moving massive amounts of carbon from surface waters to deep ocean storage – about 20 million tons annually. That’s climate regulation services being harvested for aquaculture feed.
The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Milan this past summer (June 23-July 3) confirmed some of the tensions we’ve been discussing around how nations increasingly view Antarctica through resource extraction rather than planetary stewardship lenses.
As Andrew Kelly from the Antarctic Science Foundation observed in our conversations, “The Antarctic Treaty was one of the great achievements of humanity,” setting aside the continent “for peace, science and cooperation.” But mounting pressures emerge when nations operate from what he termed “existential theories of survival” – treaties become vulnerable to unilateral resource grabs.
This reinforces why the concept of pre-emptive planetary peace feels increasingly relevant. Rather than waiting for conflicts to emerge over Antarctic resources, we need proactive governance frameworks that recognize Antarctica’s role as a planetary life-support system.
For more context on these dynamics, Hope Tracey offers an informative perspective on the broader implications of Antarctic krill harvesting.“
Several ideas from our previous dialogues take on new significance in light of what’s happening with krill harvesting and treaty pressures:
The possibility of recognizing Antarctica’s legal personhood – giving the continent representation in international forums that affect its wellbeing. This could enable Antarctica to have voice in decisions about krill harvesting, shipping routes, climate policies.
The potential role of middle powers – countries like Canada, Australia, Norway, Brazil – in leading transformation toward more adequate governance. These nations face substantial risks from Antarctic collapse without having military power to simply seize resources unilaterally.
Kelly’s observation about “deep time” from his Antarctic experience: “When one goes to Antarctica, one is left with a sense of deep time… Everything moves slow, but it moves with intention. That deep time is not part of our model.” How do we govern planetary commons for geological rather than electoral timescales?
World Krill Day surfaces questions that connect directly to our ongoing exploration of planetary commons governance:
How do we reconcile celebrating krill as ecosystem foundations while participating in systems that commodify them? What would governance look like that takes seriously the deep time wisdom Antarctica embodies? How might we shift from treating Antarctica and its species as resources to be managed toward recognizing them as participants in planetary systems?
These questions feel more pressing given what emerged from Milan and the continued expansion of krill harvesting even as Antarctic ecosystems face mounting climate pressures.
Our upcoming dialogue on September 9th will unpack what actually happened at the Milan Antarctic Treaty meetings and explore what the implications might be for pre-emptive peace approaches. The krill situation offers a concrete case study in the challenges and opportunities we’ve been discussing.
The question isn’t just whether we can save Antarctica. It’s whether Antarctica – and the deep time perspective it represents – might teach us something essential about adequate governance for our planetary moment and save us!
World Krill Day reminds us why these conversations matter. The foundations of planetary systems are under pressure in ways that require governance frameworks we haven’t yet developed. Our dialogues are exploring what those might look like.
Date: September 9th 2025
Time: 3.30 PM GMT / 4.30 PM CET / SAST / 10.30 AM ET / 7.30 AM PST
Register here for the zoom link.
Join us September 9th, 2025 as we build on previous conversations to explore outcomes from this year’s Antarctic Treaty meetings and pathways toward governance frameworks adequate to our planetary commons.