AUSTRALIA | Australia’s two largest supermarket chains have confirmed they will stop selling krill oil supplements, signalling a significant market shift away from products extracted from the Antarctic food web.
Days after Coles Group provided written confirmation to Sea Shepherd that it no longer sells krill-derived products across its more than 840 supermarkets, Woolworths also confirmed that it does not sell krill oil supplements.
Together, Woolworths and Coles account for approximately 67 percent of national supermarket grocery sales, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), meaning krill oil supplements are now absent from around 2200 stores, representing roughly two-thirds of Australia’s supermarket grocery market.
Coles’ confirmation followed Sea Shepherd’s observation that several krill oil products previously listed on the retailer’s website were marked as “currently unavailable.” The development came amid heightened scrutiny of the Antarctic krill fishery, driven in part by four consecutive Sea Shepherd expeditions to the Southern Ocean.
During these campaigns, Sea Shepherd repeatedly documented industrial supertrawlers operating among foraging whales inside a proposed marine protected area. Sea Shepherd then presented evidence gathered at sea to retailers, alongside concerns about weakening regulations governing the rapidly expanding krill fishery.
Krill are a keystone species in the Southern Ocean, converting energy captured by phytoplankton into a food source that sustains whales, penguins, seals, and countless other species.
Changes in krill abundance can reverberate throughout the Antarctic food web. Scientific evidence has suggested that krill densities around the Antarctic Peninsula, where much of the commercial fishery is concentrated, may have declined by as much as 80 percent since the 1970s.
Much of the Antarctic krill catch is processed into krill oil for use in omega-3 dietary supplements, despite the widespread availability of alternatives, including omega-3 supplements derived directly from algae. Unlike krill oil, algae-based omega-3 does not require the industrial extraction of wildlife from the Antarctic food web.
Earlier this year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) also classified the Antarctic fur seal as Endangered. Antarctic krill are a critical component of the species’ diet.
The developments in Australia followed decisions by major international retailers to move away from krill-derived products, including German retailers dm-drogerie markt and Rossmann, and Holland & Barrett, a leading health and wellness retailer in the United Kingdom.
“We have already seen market forces shift decisively away from krill in the United Kingdom and Germany, and now that change has reached Australia. Australia has a strong supplement culture, with its omega-3 supplement market estimated at more than AUD 156 million,” said Peter Hammarstedt, Chief Campaigns Officer for Sea Shepherd Global.
“When retailers representing roughly two-thirds of Australia’s supermarket grocery market do not sell krill oil, it sends a powerful signal to the rest of the Australian retail sector that products extracted from the Antarctic food web no longer belong on supermarket shelves."
While neither Coles nor Woolworths has signed the Antarctic Krill Pledge, Sea Shepherd has been encouraging Australian consumers to urge them to formalise their positions by signing the Pledge.
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