Today, activists from Bob Brown Foundation are conducting a sit in at the Minister for Environment Murray Watt’s Brisbane electoral office, demanding that Australia take action to ban krill fishing in Antarctica.

Activists brought with them a life size juvenile humpback, to represent just one of the 8 humpback whales killed in krill supertrawler nets since 2021.

Bob Brown Foundation is calling upon the Australian government to propose a ban on krill fishing at this year’s Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic and Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) treaty meeting that commences in Hobart on October 21st.

“Krill, the foundation of the Antarctic ecosystem, is being plundered from the ocean and is having a devastating impact on wildlife that rely on them, such as the humpback whale or Adelie penguins,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic, and Marine Campaigner at the Bob Brown Foundation.

“Australia must become a true Antarctic protector and propose a ban on these krill factory trawlers that are ravaging Antarctica at this year’s CCAMLR meeting,” said Alistair Allan.

“This whale represents just one of the 8 humpback whales tragically killed in the nets of krill supertrawlers since 2021. Those very same whales should have been swimming past Queensland today if their lives hadn’t been cut short by this horrible industry,” said Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaigns Director, currently in the foyer of Minister Watt’s office building.

“Australia was integral in defending Antarctica’s whales from the harpoons of the Japanese whaling fleet, now it must protect them from the death trap nets of Norwegian supertrawlers,” said Jenny Weber