Aker BioMarine hosted a panel on the road to a marine protected area in Antarctica during New York Climate Week and used the week to argue that marine raw materials belong in the discussion about climate and food.
The road to a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Antarctica
The panel, “Unlocking Consensus: The Road to an MPA in Antarctica”, was organised together with UN Global Compact Norway. CEO Matts Johansen was joined by David Agnew, former Executive Secretary of CCAMLR, Matthew Savoca, researcher at Stanford University, Max Bello of the Blue Marine Foundation and ocean conservation leader Nina Jensen. Chris Gorell Barnes of Ocean 14 Capital moderated.
The discussion centred on what it would take for the 26 nations and the EU that make up the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to agree on a marine protected area along the Antarctic Peninsula when they meet in Hobart this October.
“It is rare to have scientists, conservationists, a former head of the CCAMLR Secretariat and industry working through the same problem in the same room,” said Johansen.
Earlier in the week, Aker BioMarine took part in the UN High-Level Ocean Meeting and in a roundtable on ocean governance at Australia House, which looked at how the private sector can help put modern ocean policy, marine protected areas and better fisheries management in place. At Columbia University, the company joined Origination’s Finance Studio on the future of food systems and sustainable finance.
Why marine omega-3 matters for global health
Climate Week is mostly about energy, finance and land. The ocean comes up, but usually as something to protect rather than as part of how the world feeds itself. Yet aquaculture is the fastest-growing part of the global food system, and it depends on marine ingredients in feed. The same marine sources supply most of the world’s EPA and DHA, the long-chain omega-3s that both farmed fish and people need. Diets low in omega-3 were linked to around 627,000 deaths from heart disease in 2021, according to the Global Burden of Disease study, and three quarters of the world’s countries have never measured how much omega-3 their populations get. Of those countries measured, 80 percent did not have the appropriate levels
Many people do not get enough omega-3 from their diet and health authorities in many countries recommend eating fish at least twice a week. However, seafood is not equally available or affordable everywhere, and many people rarely eat it. For them, supplements are one of the main ways to get EPA and DHA, and the European Food Safety Authority recognises that a daily intake of 250 mg contributes to the normal function of the heart. Krill oil is one of those sources, alongside fish oil and algal oil. Aker BioMarine supplies Superba krill oil to supplement brands around the world, made from krill caught in the same Antarctic fishery that CCAMLR manages.
Aquaculture, krill and global food security
Aquaculture now produces more than half of the world's seafood, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Wild catches have been flat for three decades, so the extra food a growing population needs from the ocean has to come from farming, and farming depends on feed. This year showed how exposed that supply is, when El Niño reduced the anchovy catch off South America and the effect was felt in fish feed and omega-3 supply across the world. Algal oil is growing, but at around 40-50 metric tonnes a year it is still small next to more than a million tonnes of fish oil.
Most of the krill harvested in Antarctica goes into feed for aquaculture, and most of that into shrimp feed in the Global South. Decisions about how the fishery is managed therefore matter for food security far beyond the Southern Ocean, for the farmers who depend on feed and for the people who rely on what they produce.
“A food system that leans on one source is fragile, and having several marine sources makes it more resilient,” said Johansen. “That is why marine raw materials, and how they are managed, deserve a place in the rooms where climate and food are discussed.”
What Aker BioMarine supports at CCAMLR in Hobart
CCAMLR meets in Hobart from 19 to 30 October. Aker BioMarine supports the proposed marine protected area along the Antarctic Peninsula and a new science-based framework for managing the krill fishery.
“We hope both can be agreed,” said Johansen. “The conversations in New York did not settle every disagreement, but they made it clearer where the common ground lies, and that is a good place to start.”