Krill killing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1997:

The last paragraph of the
official summary of the 1997
International Whaling Commission
meeting in Monaco noted that the
IWC is funding two research cruises.
“One,” the summary said, “is
aimed at providing information on
blue whales and the other at providing
information on minke, blue,
and other whales in the Southern
Ocean Sanctuary. Japan is generously
providing the vessels.”
That paragraph worries
the Sea Shepherds as much as any
other development of the meeting,
as it suggests an opening for Japan
to reassert a frequent claim that the
blue whale population is not recovering
due to competition for krill,
the microscopic shrimp that are
their staple food, from the more
abundant minke whales that Japan
wants to commercially hunt.
Krill have declined precipitously
in recent years, coinciding
wih increased ultraviolet radiation
hitting the ocean through holes
in the Antarctic ozone layer––and
with escalated Japanese use of krill
as pig feed and fertilizer.