Antarctica was once the last pure land on earth, with the development of Antarctica by various countries. Humans have found that Antarctica has unlimited resources. In the sea waters wrapped in huge ice layers, there are Antarctic krill known as "gold mines of the sea".
Antarctic krill is very rich in nutritional value, known as the "granary of the sea". It is a high quality food. With the continuous development of Antarctic resources, countries have also begun to compete for resources in Antarctica. In the fishing of Antarctic krill, China has come to the fore, which can be described as a "dark horse".
"Gold Mine at Sea"
Antarctic krill grows in the antarctic waters of the Antarctic Ocean, it is transparent throughout, generally about four to six centimeters in size, relatively small.
Antarctic krill also has a magic, its body will glow, the light emitted on its body, not as faint as the fireflies, the green light emitted by its body, exceptionally dazzling, just like the light emitted by a flashlight.
Antarctic krill prefer to live in groups, sometimes reaching a density of 10,000 to 20,000 to 30,000 per cubic meter. The total amount of Antarctic krill is about one billion tons, which is extremely large.
Antarctic krill is known as the "gold mine of the sea" because of its own unique value.
Antarctic krill has a particularly high nutritional value, especially the protein content is as high as 20%. Because of its extremely high protein content, Antarctic krill is also known as "the future protein resource warehouse of mankind." ”
Not only that, Antarctic krill is also rich in minerals and a variety of substances needed by the human body. And Antarctic krill also has the characteristics of low fat. As a human food, Antarctic krill can be described as a truly high-quality food.
Antarctic krill not only has high nutritional value, but it also has extremely high medical value and medicinal value. Antarctic krill is rich in chitin in the carapace, coupled with the relatively thin shell of Antarctic krill, the chitin in the shrimp shell is very easy to extract.
Chitin extracted from the shell of Antarctic krill has a variety of medicinal functions, such as it has the function of strengthening human immune function, inhibiting cancer cells, lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure and blood sugar.
Antarctic krill also contains a certain amount of astaxanthin, astaxanthin has antioxidant activity, can be added to skin care products, has a very effective anti-aging effect. Not only that, astaxanthin can also prevent diabetes, kidney disease and so on.
Krill oil made from Antarctic krill is rich in EPA and DHA, which can effectively reduce cholesterol, lower blood lipids, and prevent coronary heart disease. And krill oil is better absorbed by the body.
It is because Antarctic krill has rich medical value and medicinal value, coupled with its huge number, so it is called "offshore vault".
Antarctic krill grow in Antarctica, where natural conditions are very harsh. Therefore, it is also difficult to catch Antarctic krill.
Krill harvesting is difficult
Antarctica is very cold and the oxygen content is very low. For humans, this place is simply not suitable for survival. Survival is difficult, and it is even more difficult to carry out large-scale fishing operations.
To catch Antarctic krill, you must not only face a harsh environment, but also have advanced equipment. The extremely low temperature in Antarctica requires fishing vessels to be able to operate normally at temperatures of minus tens of degrees. The mere manufacture of fishing vessels reflects the level of science and technology of a country.
Not only that, Antarctic krill dies when it comes out of the water. After death, Antarctic krill rot and deteriorate within a few hours. The Antarctic krill that have been caught will rot before they can be sent ashore.
The quality of Antarctic krill is that they die when they come out of the water, which requires us to deep process the Antarctic krill from the moment they are fished out of the water. Naturally, a series of processing of Antarctic krill is done on fishing vessels.
Therefore, the fishing vessel needs to have a complete set of processing equipment, as well as a mature processing line. Originally, the fishing boat for Antarctic krill was already difficult to build, and now it is necessary to add so much processing equipment on the ship, and the manufacture of Antarctic krill fishing boats can be described as more difficult.
In the 1960s, the Soviet Union was the first to fish for Antarctic krill, and later countries learned about the value of Antarctic krill and joined the fishing team.
China will become the biggest "dark horse"
Countries have worked hard to catch Antarctic krill. Countries have invested a lot of money and researchers in the design and manufacture of fishing vessels.
After the Soviet Union, Japan became the country with the largest antarctic krill catch in the world. The reason why Japan can catch so many Antarctic krill is because it has advanced fishing equipment.
Norway's catch has also been on the rise in recent years, and it has become another Antarctic krill fishing power after Japan.
The mainland's development of Antarctic krill resources is relatively late, and in 2009, the mainland went to Antarctica for the first time to catch Antarctic krill. In recent years, with the continuous progress of China's science and technology, the Antarctic krill fishing vessels independently developed by the mainland are also constantly improving, and the mainland is likely to become a "dark horse" in the future Antarctic krill fishing industry.
The biggest difficulty in Antarctic krill fishing is that Antarctic krill dies when they come out of the water, so we need to install a series of equipment for deep processing of Antarctic krill on the fishing vessel.
In 2019, the "Deep Blue" fishery fishing and processing vessel independently developed by the mainland was delivered for use. The boat is 120 meters long and 21.6 meters wide. It can operate normally at a low temperature of minus 25 degrees Celsius.
The vessel uses a continuous pump fishing system and is equipped with a fully automated krill processing line on board. The moment krill is caught, it is processed. Shrimp meat, shrimp meal, shrimp oil and similar products can be produced immediately.
After the delivery of the "Deep Blue", the annual krill catch on the mainland reached 60,000-100,000 tons, becoming the country with the largest krill catch in the world.
At present, the mainland has become the world's largest exporter of krill, and the export volume accounts for 60% of the world's total trade. It is believed that in the future, with the further improvement of the mainland's scientific and technological level, the mainland's krill fishing vessels will become more and more advanced.