17/04/2026
Krill Wars Campaign Leader Lamya Essemlali Returns to France After Successful Mission
Lamya Essemlali returns to France today after completing our first campaign against the ecologically destructive and cruel krill fishery in the Southern Ocean.
She is bringing back a symbolic trophy: the plastic buoys from Acker Biomarine’s ship, Antarctic Endurance. These buoys were part of a prop-fouling rope deployed by the Antarctic Endurance in a failed attempt to stop our ship, the Bandero, from disrupting their operations.
After hours of direct intervention by the Bandero’s crew, the much larger krill trawlers Antarctic Endurance and Antarctic Sea fled the fishing grounds. The Captain Paul Watson Foundation and Sea Shepherd France sent a clear message by executing a "counting coup" a nonviolent tactic borrowed from Native American tradition, where an opponent is touched without causing harm on the stern of the Antarctic Sea.
The Norwegian crew responded with their usual baseless accusations of "eco-terrorism, piracy, and extremist behavior." Yet these very labels accurately describe their own actions. The industrial krill fishery is plundering the Southern Ocean like pirates, using extreme technologies to vacuum life from the sea, starving whales, penguins, and countless other marine species.
Their dramatic complaints about the "danger" we posed were equally absurd. We have conducted such interventions for over half a century without causing a single injury or facing a felony conviction. Aggressive yet nonviolent direct action is our expertise. The goal of this campaign was to expose the destructive practices of the krill fishing industry to the world.
Last year alone, this industry extracted 620,000 metric tons of krill from the Southern Ocean. Their target for the future? 1.2 million tons all to feed the toxic salmon farming industry, which is rapidly replacing wild-caught fish depleted by overfishing.
Why must whales, penguins, seals, seabirds, and fish in the Southern Ocean pay with their lives so that people can eat cheap, farmed salmon?
In a display of cowardice, the Norwegian fishermen who pride themselves on toughness, reacted like petulant children, playing the victim. They even called in the Chilean Navy for protection. Lamya firmly informed the Navy they had no jurisdiction, and they withdrew. The two massive krill ships fled the area, pursued by the much smaller Bandero.
What did we achieve?
• We shut down the krill fishery for two full days.
• We exposed this senseless, destructive industry to the world.
• We sent message that this ecologically destructive industry will not be tolerated.
WE WILL BE BACK!
Well done, Lamya. You led your crew into the Southern Ocean and took their balls.
