Chinese shrimp has always had a good feeling, whether it is crayfish, giant river prawns, shrimp, in the market has a good sales. However, there is a thing "non-shrimp-like shrimp", its scientific name is Antarctic krill, although it looks very similar to shrimp, in fact it belongs to crustaceans, krill family, krill genus.
Therefore, it is a crustacean seafood, compared to shrimp, krill is more valuable, known as the "gold mine of the sea", the current reserves of up to 1 billion tons.
What is the role of such a creature, which has become the object of global competition, and has been competing for 80 years? Why is it favored by the world? Why do some people call China the biggest dark horse?
01. Characteristics of Antarctic krill
There are many types of krill, and not only in the Antarctic, the number of global seas is as high as 5 billion tons, but the Antarctic krill in the narrow sense belongs to the Antarctic krill, which is larger in the krill, with a length of about 42-65mm and a weight of only 2 grams.
It can be seen that the Antarctic krill is very small, about the size of the small shrimp rice, but it is characterized by the fact that it can emit light, because it contains fluorescent organs, which are generally distributed in different parts of the body, and can emit yellow-green light after 2-3 seconds.
The reason for the glow of Antarctic krill is unknown, and the advantages of luminescence are unknown, and there are speculations that it may be to cover up its tracks and thus avoid predators; but there are also speculations that it is convenient for mating or to facilitate nocturnal group activities.
Antarctic krill is a social organism with a population density of 10,000-30,000/m³, densely packed together like pink ribbons. They live in shallow seas at a depth of 200 meters, feed on algae, have a lifespan of about 6 years, and the cluster is also divided by age.
Krill spawn in January to March, usually in the deep sea area, can lay 0.6-10 thousand eggs at a time, these eggs usually sink below 2000-3000 meters deep, hatch and then swim to shallow sea areas. Usually when swimming to a depth of 100 meters, it will grow into a juvenile shrimp, and it will mature sexually in 2-3 years.
02. Why is it called "offshore gold mine"?
The reason why Antarctic krill is called "gold mine on the sea" is actually of great significance, as it is the largest number of organisms in the Antarctic Circle, and it feeds a variety of organisms in the Antarctic Circle by itself.
Because of their high fecundity and abundance, they can be used as food for whales, penguins, seals and birds, such as whales can swallow tons of krill.
In the context of global overfishing, fishery resources are declining, and Antarctic krill is one of the largest sources of protein for humans, so it is valued and competed by all countries.
It is reported that Antarctic krill is a high-protein, low-fat organism, its protein composition accounts for 16.31%, much higher than beef and tuna. Among them, the mineral content is rich, accounting for 2.76%, which is higher than that of shrimp and clams. Among them, there are 18 kinds of amino acids and 8 kinds of essential amino acids, and the amount of unsaturated fatty acids accounts for 70.36%, which also plays an important role in the human body.
Of course, because antarctic krill was arrested, the fluorine component rose rapidly, and the human body could not eat it directly, requiring rapid processing. Therefore, each fishing vessel should be equipped with processing equipment that can be used to make food, nutritional supplements, feed, bait, etc.
In addition to its economic benefits, Antarctic krill is also important for marine ecosystems. First of all, krill can adapt to acidic seawater, at this time its body fluids will automatically maintain acid-base balance, so as to carry out normal physiological activities; secondly, Antarctic krill is weakly digested, the carbon content in the feces is high, so a large amount of carbon is fixed to the seabed, providing a "biological pump" for the ecosystem!
03, China or become the biggest winner
As early as the 1960s, the Soviet Union began commercially fishing for krill, and in the 70s and 80s, the catch accounted for 80% of the world's total, and at most 491,700 tons a year.
Then, Japan, Poland and other countries also joined the fishing, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Japan came to the top, becoming the largest fishing country, fishing 50,000-80,000 tons a year, mainly more competition, fishing pressure.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Norway has replaced Japan as the king of Antarctic krill fishing, such as between 2007 and 2019, Norway's annual catch is 100,000-200,000 tons, accounting for about 50% of the world. At this time, China, the United States, South Korea and other countries have joined in the fishing of krill.
China's Antarctic krill fishing trip is late, and it was only in 2010 that fishing boats were first dispatched to catch them, but the mainland has made rapid progress, catching 54,000 tons of krill in 14 years.
In 2015, the mainland sent four additional fishing vessels to fish, and its operating time increased from 2 months to 9 months, and the annual krill catch increased to 60,000 tons in 16 years. In 2020, China's "Deep Blue" was officially launched and joined the Antarctic krill fishing team.
The vessel is 120 meters long, 21.6 meters wide and 12.5 meters deep, carries 99 people and has a tonnage of 7,800 tons, and has the most advanced fishing system and automated processing lines.
It is believed that with the addition of the "Deep Blue", China will become the biggest dark horse in the Antarctic krill competition, and the annual catch is expected to exceed 100,000 tons.
Some people may ask, will the crazy fishing of countries around the world catch the Antarctic krill? In fact, you don't have to worry, you have to know that baleen whales swallow about 43 million tons of krill a year, and seals swallow 63-130 million tons of krill. Humans only catch hundreds of thousands of tons a year, which is not worth mentioning compared with various types of marine life.
Of course, the CCAMLR organization now stipulates that the annual global Antarctic krill catch limit is 625,000 tons, and when the limit is reached, the capture will be prohibited. In this way, humans do not have to worry about the ecological impact of the large-scale fishing of Antarctic krill.