The Antarctic continent covers an area of about 13.9 million square kilometers, is a no-man's land covered by huge ice, the average temperature is -25 °C, the lowest can reach -91 °C, more than 300 days out of 365 days a year 8 winds ...
It is precisely this harsh environment that makes Antarctica the last pure land of mankind, and it is also the reserve fishing ground with the greatest potential in the world, which is pregnant with rich marine resources. Among them, Antarctic krill is the first resource provided by Antarctica to human development and utilization.
Antarctic krill skin is thin and tender, but also has certain medicinal value, is the most potential marine living resources and excellent protein sources on the earth.
With a protein content of more than 50%, it is the highest protein-containing organism found so far, and it is rich in a variety of amino acids and vitamin A necessary for human tissues.
An Australian biologist found from the stomach of a blue whale that Antarctic krill weighed 1,000 kilograms.
It can be seen that Antarctic krill has huge reserves in the Southern Ocean. Using acoustic equipment to survey parts of the Southern Ocean, scientists conservatively estimate the biomass of Antarctic krill to be 560-1 billion tons, and possibly even more.
Antarctic krill resources are known as "the future protein resources warehouse of mankind", and such a rich "offshore gold mine" has also attracted the attention of countries around the world.
Antarctic krill – the largest marine biota
Antarctic krill, also known as Antarctic krill, krill, is a crustacean zooplankton, the body length is generally 3-5 cm, the longest up to 6.4 cm, weight of about 2 g, the average lifespan of 3-5 years, mainly on tiny phytoplankton as food.
Antarctic krill have a golden yellow appearance and a reddish spherical luminous apparatus on the body, which looks crystal clear and bright throughout, and is a key species in the Antarctic ecosystem.
Blue whales, fin whales, humpback whales, sperm whales, etc. all eat krill as a staple food, and even the "indigenous" penguins of the Antarctic continent also eat krill.
In addition, Antarctic krill provide an important food source for seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, and other birds.
Antarctic krill prefer to cluster, and in denser seas, there can be 400 tons of krill per square kilometer. The U.S. "Melville" research vessel once found a giant krill colony, estimated to be at least 10 million tons, which is the largest marine biota found so far.
According to the measurement, the nutritional value of krill is much higher than that of shrimp, much higher than beef and general fish, and the protein contained in each 10 krill is equivalent to the nutritional value of 200 grams of grilled meat.
Antarctic krill caught usually has two treatment methods: one is frozen into frozen shrimp; The second is to process it into powdered shrimp.
Because Antarctic krill contain strong active decomposition enzymes and other substances, dehydration and dissolution will become a cloudy dark red color, and must be processed in a short period of time (1-3 hours) after fishing.
In the early days, Antarctic krill was mainly used as animal food or bait in various countries, and was mainly used in Japanese cuisine. Later, it was found that Antarctic krill is rich in krill oil, and the amount of pollution is very low, and now most of them are made of high-quality krill powder and extract krill oil.
Some scientists imagine that if 150 million tons are recovered every year, the need for aquatic products for all mankind can be guaranteed.
Antarctic krill has attracted competition from all over the world with its huge reserves, delicious taste and rich influence, and has become a key target for the world's fishermen.
How competitive are countries?
After the huge biomass of Antarctic krill was discovered by humans, scientists have been exploring how to develop and utilize it.
Since the early 1970s, some countries have begun to commercially develop and utilize Antarctic krill, which can be divided into three main periods:
- Phase 1:
At its peak in the 80s and 90s, annual catches reached 500,000 tonnes. The former Soviet Union and Japan are the main fishing countries, 90% of which are captured by the former Soviet Union.
- Stage 2:
In the 1990s, more and more countries in the world recognized the importance of Antarctic krill resources and joined the ranks of development and utilization, the main development countries are Russia, Japan, Chile, Poland and so on.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Japan took the opportunity to carry out large-scale fishing, accounting for 80% of the total catch. For example, in 1993, the global krill catch was only 65,000 tons, of which Japan accounted for 57,000 tons
- Stage 3:
Since the 21st century, Norway, South Korea, the United States and other countries have also carried out the fishing of Antarctic krill, of which Norway and South Korea have increased the fishing of Antarctic krill, and gradually become the main countries for krill fishing.
In 2007 and 2008, South Korea produced 33,000 tons and 40,000 tons of krill, respectively, while Norway ranked first among all countries with 39,000 tons and 63,000 tons, respectively.
The mainland has always been very concerned about the resources of Antarctic krill, and joined CCAMLR (Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Commission) in 2007, and in 2010 began to officially carry out actual fishing and production of Antarctic krill, becoming one of the eight countries that actually fish krill in Antarctica.
And China, as a rising star, is internationally considered to be the biggest dark horse of the "krill dispute"!
Why is China the biggest "beneficiary"?
Since 2010, the mainland's 7,000-ton large-scale fishing and processing vessels "Carrier", "Kaiyu" and "Kaifu" have successively sailed to the Antarctic Ice Sea.
In 2013, China, which had only one fishing vessel, caught 31,900 tons, but by 2016, the mainland Antarctic krill catch reached 66,000 tons, and the number of krill fishing vessels increased to 5!
In 2019, the mainland independently developed the first Antarctic krill fishing and processing vessel "Deep Blue", with a total length of about 120 meters, a width of 21.06 meters, and a design draft of 7.3 meters, which is the world's most advanced ocean fishery fishing and processing integrated vessel.
"Deep Blue" is not only equipped with the world's advanced continuous pumping fishing system and automatic krill product production line, but also can realize the continuous processing and automatic packaging and transportation of shrimp meat, frozen shrimp, shrimp meal and shrimp oil and other products.
In just over a decade, China's Antarctic krill industry has grown from scratch and has become one of the world's major Antarctic krill industry development sites, or will become the biggest beneficiary of the "offshore gold mine" of Antarctic krill.
Many people may be worried that the scramble between countries to catch Antarctic krill will lead to extinction. Antarctic krill is extremely fertile and has a short maturity period, each female shrimp can lay more than 11,000 eggs, and can be harvested after 2 years of maturity.
Biologists estimate that if the annual krill catch does not exceed 50 million tons, it will not affect the ecological balance of the Southern Ocean sea, and krill will grow and develop normally.
Therefore, although the reserves of Antarctic krill are very large, human beings must also fish rationally, otherwise they will be ashamed of this precious resource given to human beings by the earth, and the consequences will eventually be eaten back to themselves.
In order to avoid the destruction of human overexploitation of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, CCAMLR has developed a series of norms for the fishing of Antarctic krill based on scientific assessments.