Collision Course in the ‘Krill Wars’: When Activism Risks Piracy Classification

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Dr Laurence Atkin-Teillet, Lecturer at NLS https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/law/laurence-teillet

Photo by Enguerrand Photography on Unsplash

Between February and April 2026, a confrontation took place in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica involving two principal actors: the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), operating the vessel Bandero, and Aker Qrill Company, a Norwegian industrial fishing operator and the world’s largest harvester of Antarctic krill. The operation, publicly framed by the activists as “Operation Krill Wars”, took place in the waters surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula, an ecologically sensitive region governed collectively under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

The stated aim of the CPWF mission was to physically disrupt industrial krill fishing operations on the basis that krill constitute a keystone species essential to the survival of whales, penguins, seals, and seabirds, as well as playing a role in global carbon regulation. Its method is described as “aggressive nonviolence”, involving direct maritime intervention, physical obstruction of fishing gear, and disruption of vessel operations without intent to harm human life.

While krill fishing is legally permitted under CCAMLR quotas, the CPWF argues that these limits are insufficient given rising catch volumes (with recent seasons reaching approximately 620,000 tonnes and proposals to increase quotas significantly) and the ecological centrality of krill in the Antarctic food web.

In practical terms, the operation consists of sustained maritime interference. The Bandero and its crew, led operationally by campaign leader Lamya Essemlali, engaged in multi-hour confrontations with industrial trawlers. These interventions reportedly included manoeuvring to obstruct fishing operations, deploying devices intended to interfere with or damage trawling nets, and physically approaching industrial vessels in order to halt extraction activity.

The most significant escalation occurred on 31 March 2026, when the Bandero came into direct physical contact with the industrial trawler Antarctic Sea, operated by Aker Qrill. The incident took place during what the CPWF describes as a sustained five-hour intervention against two industrial vessels operating in Antarctic waters.

The organisation explicitly stated that its actions were intentional, characterising the encounter as a form of direct intervention rather than accidental contact. In its public communication, Lamya Essemlali stated “the collision was not an accident. We did it to send a message”.

Aker Qrill strongly opposed this operation. The company released video footage showing the Bandero approaching the stern of the Antarctic Sea before striking its port side at a slight angle. It characterised the event as a deliberate and dangerous attack. Aker BioMarine CEO Matts Johansen described the ramming as a “terrorist attack”. The company further argued that the activist vessel came within centimetres of a fuel tank, raising the risk of a catastrophic spill in a highly sensitive marine environment.

The reaction from Aker was followed by the mobilisation of state authorities. Chilean naval forces intervened after distress calls were issued, deploying water cannons to separate the vessels and secure the industrial trawler.

Subsequently, the Falkland Islands authorities denied the Bandero access to Port Stanley for resupply and crew support. The Acting Governor justified the decision on the basis of “national interests” and maritime safety concerns, stating that the vessel had been involved in “questionable actions on the high seas”.

The legal framework governing this confrontation sits at the intersection of different regimes.

Antarctica is governed not as a sovereign territory but through the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), to which Chile is a party. The Treaty establishes Antarctica as a zone dedicated to peace and scientific research, and it prohibits military activity, weapons testing, and the use of force in a traditional interstate sense.

In principle, this means that Antarctica is not subject to sovereignty claims and is intended to remain demilitarised. Essemlali’s position draws on this logic: she contests the legitimacy of Chilean naval intervention in Antarctic waters, arguing that enforcement actions in the region exceed what the treaty framework envisages for state conduct, particularly where the purpose is not scientific protection but the defence of industrial activity.

However, the ATS does not function as a complete enforcement regime. It regulates state behaviour and scientific cooperation, but it does not provide a dedicated policing mechanism for non-state actors operating at sea. As a result, enforcement in surrounding waters often reverts to general maritime law, particularly UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

Under UNCLOS, piracy is defined in Article 101 as illegal acts of violence, detention, or depredation committed for “private ends” on the high seas, involving one vessel against another. The definition does not require intent to permanently harm; rather, it focuses on the combination of violence or endangerment and private purpose.

This is where the legal ambiguity around the Bandero incident becomes significant.

On one hand, the CPWF frames its actions as non-violent environmental protection, not private gain. On the other, the reported use of physical interference tactics – hooked anchors, net disruption devices, and, most controversially, a collision with an industrial trawler in remote and hazardous waters – raises questions about whether the threshold of “violence against another vessel” could be engaged.

If characterised as piracy, this classification would have major jurisdictional consequences. Piracy is one of the few offences under international law subject to universal jurisdiction. This would allow any state to board, detain, and prosecute the vessel regardless of flag or location on the high seas. In practice, this is what enables distant naval forces to intervene in maritime piracy cases.

It is precisely this legal possibility that makes the classification sensitive: once an act is framed as piracy, it is no longer confined to the flag state or coastal jurisdiction, but opens enforcement authority globally.

This is not the first time the Captain Paul Watson Foundation and its predecessor networks have operated near the boundary of this legal category. The organisation has long embraced the rhetoric of maritime confrontation, including self-identifying in symbolic terms such as “Neptune’s Pirates”.

Historically, courts have dealt with similar incidents. In earlier litigation involving Sea Shepherd operations, a US Ninth Circuit decision in 2013 characterised certain actions as piracy in a civil injunction context, based on aggressive interference tactics during whaling confrontations. Although the factual circumstances differed and did not involve a confirmed intentional collision, the reasoning highlighted that violent or dangerous interference with vessels at sea could, in certain circumstances, approach piracy thresholds depending on interpretation of intent and risk.

In the present case, the intentional collision in a fragile and remote maritime environment intensifies that legal sensitivity. Even if framed by CPWF as “aggressive nonviolence”, the physical nature of the intervention and the proximity to industrial vessels carrying fuel and operating in extreme conditions could be argued to increase the perceived risk profile under UNCLOS standards.

The key tension, therefore, is not simply whether the CPWF is “right” or “wrong”, but whether its chosen methods remain within the bounds of protest or cross into categories that trigger coercive enforcement powers at the international level. In this case, however, the events described come close to what may be argued as the clearest example of conduct potentially fulfilling the legal definition of piracy under UNCLOS, particularly given the reported intentional interference with another vessel in a remote and hazardous maritime environment. On that basis, this blogpost should also be read as a cautionary reflection for environmental direct-action actors: however laudable the underlying ecological aims may be, the escalation of tactics into physically dangerous maritime confrontation risks activating a legal framework that enables universal jurisdiction, including boarding, seizure, and prosecution by any state.

Collision Course in the ‘Krill Wars’: When Activism Risks Piracy Classification

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