Today I received a report about the future of Krill oil;"Aker BioMarine is set to launch a new krill oil for supplements next month and predicts the market for the oil - a source of omega-3 - will experience significant growth over the next few years. The Norwegian firm says the oil not only contains omega-3 phospholipids but also astaxanthin, a potent antioxidant. "For this reason the krill oil is believed to be more bioeffective and resistant to oxidation than other sources of omega-3," said nutrition and health vice president Jostein Dalland. The firm believes that although the market for krill oil is in its infancy, it will experience a lot of growth over the next few years. "
In case you aren't aware, krill is a tiny shrimp-like crustacean that is the major food of whales. It is abundant only in Arctic and Antarctic oceans. So important is it to whales that their baleen 'seive' you see around their lips is designed to filter out water and keep the tiny krill in their mouths.
Which brings me back to this post's purpose. It seems to me that we have plundered every wild place on earth in search of a new and better supplement ingredient. Acai from I don't know where, Goji from Tibet, salt from the Himalayas, and now whale fodder from Antarctica.
The question that comes up for me is...
Is it so necessary to have a new antioxidant supplement that we have the right to plunder the major foodsource of our beloved whale friends?
Just a thought... when do we say 'enough'?
4 comments:
Couldn’t agree more. Let's just leave it for the whales With some other products, when they become popular, they are then commercially produced, e.g. Gojii berries. And who knows whether the commercially produced berries have anywhere near the benefits that are touted for the naturally grown ones? and the villagers who first sold their own food source for income then get no commercial gain from the bigger farms. At least they can voice an opinion, if anyone wants to listen, the whales can't even do that; they just get to die out for lack of food!
100% with you on this matter. Why don't they just grow their own in 'Sea-farms" - like the salmon and trout? Bet it could be possible - and if it can be done, then they could return the surplus to the whales.
Krill has to eat something, the same as the whales do.Krill may be able to be grown in sea farms as well.. Krill does in fact eat marine phytoplankton,the tiny micro-algae of the sea, the very first nutrient in the worlds food chain.This can and is being grown for human consumption in safe enclosed bio-reactors.This product is even more nutritious than krill oil none of it's nutrients have used by another species.So farming krill may not be necessary.Marine phytoplankton is a totally renewable resource and it's purity can be assured in the enclosed growing conditions.It will soon be available in Australia in the pure green powder form.
Whilst I will agree to anything that will help Whales regenerate their population human Krill harvesting is not having an impact, most recents stats are an annual catch of 120,000 tonnes Vs an estimated supply in the Southern Ocean of 100-500 million tonnes. Source http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/29/business/29krill.php
I recently heard reports that there is so much krill now (& few Whales left to eat it) that in fact the Seal population is exploding in the Southern Ocean which could have adverse impacts on other species, so as long as it's monitored carefully a small human catch MAY help keep the Eco System from going to much out of balance until the Whales (hopefully) increase in numbers.
Regards
Donald
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