MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

BAS confirms decline in Antarctic krill.

Krill, a tiny crustacean which is the source of food for many Antarctic species such as whales, penguins and seals seems to have undergone a drastic 80% decline since the seventies in the Antarctic Peninsula area according to a report published in Nature magazine by British scientists.

Krill feeds on algae under the ice so the decline in numbers may be linked to recent warming that has reduced the sea-ice cover, explained Dr. Angus Atkinson from the British Antarctic Survey.

Dr. Atkinson and his colleagues established the krill trend by analyzing 12,000 net hauls taken during periods from 1926 to 2003 and found that the crustacean was most concentrated in the southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Results also indicated that krill banks or concentrations most decline during the austral summer months which could mean that the loss of sea ice is connected to the sea warming.

The area in the last few years has experienced the highest temperatures in half a century, although the link still has to be established with precision.

Another consequence apparently could be the corresponding increase of transparent tube-like creatures known as salps which tend to live in warmer waters less food rich.

"We have to monitor the situation, work out what's causing the decline in krill and predict the future of the food chain in Antarctic waters", explained Dr. Atkinson.

Implications of the decline are not only scientific but also commercial since krill is being increasingly valuable resource for the fishing industry.