Marine fisheries have long been one of the most valuable resources for mankind, after researchers found 1 billion tons of krill in antarctica, and countries are scrambling to develop this resource.
Why do some people say that In this competition, China may become the biggest beneficiary?
Precious krill
Krill are marine plankton, much smaller than the crayfish you usually see.
Krill is between 10 and 100 mm long, the largest krill is only 10 cm, and the krill tail has ten feet, resembling a ten-legged shrimp, and people often confuse it with a ten-legged shrimp.
Merchants also like to replace krill with full shrimp for huge profits.
Krill also have a light emitter in their bodies, which can emit a faint light in the dark, like fireflies.
Krill are mostly social animals, very densely distributed together, when you see the krill herd, you will see a magnificent scene.
In terms of ecological chain, krill belongs to the lower middle class, krill feeds on seaweed and organic detritus in the water, and is also the main food of seals and penguins.
When there is a lack of food, krill will reduce their body size to achieve the purpose of reducing food consumption, and krill will even nibble on their companions to supplement nutrition, which is very curious.
Krill in the Antarctic region are mainly distributed in areas where ocean currents meet, and when the warm current encounters the cold current, the cold current sinks and the warm current rises, bringing a wealth of nutrients.
Coupled with the relatively warm water source, krill not only do not have to worry about food sources, but also can multiply in large quantities.
According to the preliminary estimates of scientists, the biomass of Antarctic krill is more than 1 billion tons, and under the premise of not affecting the Antarctic ecological environment, the annual harvestable krill resources of humans are about one million tons.
Antarctic krill colonies
So far, the development of krill in the Antarctic region is only 500,000 tons per year, that is to say, the development of krill resources in the Antarctic region is promising.
China, in particular, will become the biggest beneficiary of the development of Antarctic krill resources.
Krill development
In the 1960s, a number of developed countries competed for the development of krill in the Antarctic region, but due to technical and cost reasons, they have not been able to achieve good results.
Among the global fishing of Antarctic krill, Norway is the best, with an annual harvest of about 160,000 tons.
Moreover, for various reasons, the mainland started late in Antarctic scientific research, and did not begin to investigate the fishing of Antarctic krill until 1984.
It took decades for the mainland to join the ranks of Antarctic krill fishing for the first time in 2010 with other developed countries
Obviously, the gap between fishing and developed countries is so large that it is still too late to start, why is it said that China may be the biggest beneficiary?
The key is that the Antarctic krill fishing industry on the mainland is developing rapidly,
And many developed countries have taken more than a decade, or even decades, to reach this catch, so
Since then, the mainland has increased the number of Antarctic krill fishing vessels, from the original two to four, and in terms of fishing time, the mainland has increased from the original two months to nine months.
The root cause is the progress of technology, the original mainland fishing Antarctic krill can only be carried out in the middle of summer, the temperature and climate conditions in the Antarctic region in midsummer are relatively good, and the requirements for fishing technology are not high.
Once in the spring and autumn, Antarctic krill dive into the deep sea, coupled with the changes in the climate of the Antarctic region, require more sophisticated equipment and higher costs.
In such a situation, if you operate indiscriminately, there will only be a result of the bamboo basket hitting the water empty.
Fortunately, with the development of the mainland economy, a number of fishing technologies have been broken, and there are more mature operations in the fishing process, which has greatly increased the efficiency of the continent's antarctic krill fishing.
In 2020, the mainland's industrial fishing vessel "Deep Blue" also joined the Antarctic krill fishing.
。
The fishing vessel Deep Blue
In addition, in the fishing of Antarctic krill, how to do a good job of biometric technology is also an important issue.
Because Antarctic krill is a large social organism, krill can only be effectively obtained through a wider range of operations.
In the process of fishing, it is inevitable that other organisms will be trapped, and there are many rare and protected animals in Antarctica, if you do a good job of non-Antarctic krill biological expulsion measures, it is likely to cause damage to the Antarctic ecological environment.
At that time, the country will be condemned by other countries, causing a bad impact.
The mainland has done a very good job in reducing the by-catch of non-target organisms, and has independently developed a variety of ways such as biological repellent and sonic repellent, which has greatly reduced the non-target organisms in the fishing, which makes the continental pass rate in the test of Antarctic krill almost 100%.
In contrast to those fishing vessels that failed to pass the test, they also need to manually select Antarctic krill, which is time-consuming and laborious, and has a reputation for overfishing.
In just a decade, the continent's Antarctic krill fishing technology has formed a complete industrial chain.
From fishing to processing to marketing, there are advantages that no other country can match.
Among them, the mainland market also plays an important role, as the world's most "foodie" country, Antarctic krill in the mainland market is often in short supply.
If there is a market, someone will sell, someone will sell, and the more markets there are, the more motivated the merchants will be, and in this regard, it is difficult for the domestic markets of other countries to do so.
It is expected that soon, the number of Antarctic krill fishing on the mainland will exceed 100,000 tons, from the very beginning of the fishing to the current mature conditions, but only 10 years, I believe that soon China will be able to lead the world in the Antarctic krill fishing industry.
The value of Antarctic krill
So what is the value of Antarctic krill, so that so many countries will not hesitate to spend a lot of money to develop such fishery resources?
First of all, Antarctic krill is rich in protein, compared to most other marine organisms.
With such a high percentage of protein, but with a low fat, it means that people who are afraid of obesity can eat Antarctic krill to the fullest.
And Antarctic krill is also a very healthy food, because Antarctic krill live in areas far from humans, feed on algae and organic matter, rarely contaminated with heavy metals.
Coupled with the unique digestive system of Antarctic krill, it is not easy to rot and stink during the transportation process, and consumers are more inclined to this shrimp without odor.
Second, in the context of global fishing, the fishery resources in the oceans are declining, and people are spending more effort but only getting smaller gains.
As a result, merchants have set their sights on the area that has not yet been exploited by humans - Antarctica.
Antarctic fishing vessels
Antarctic krill is rich in fishery resources and high in protein content, and will be an effective source of supplementary protein content for humans in the future.
Finally, there is the impact of humans on the Antarctic environment, where Antarctic glaciers are gradually melting in a global warming environment, and penguin seals have to abandon their superior predatory environment and migrate deep into the glaciers.
Moreover, the large-scale hunting of Antarctic creatures by humans has led to a sharp decrease in the number of natural enemies of Antarctic krill such as whales and penguins.
With fewer predators, Antarctic krill can thrive unbridled, and their populations are growing dramatically.
Antarctic krill colonies
Under the premise of not overfishing, human fishing for Antarctic krill is to improve the ecological environment of the Antarctic region and prevent the flooding of species.
Taken together, the fishing value of Antarctic krill is among the best in marine fisheries, and the competition between countries is so fierce.
It is worth mentioning that the fluoride content in Antarctic krill is very high, and when stored for a long time, the fluoride in the shell will sink into the flesh, and it will be harmful to the human body after eating.
Therefore, in the development of Antarctic krill resources, integrated industrial vessels are particularly important.