With the development of the global economy, most of the natural resources are facing a state of short supply and even depletion, and even the most ordinary water resources have been missing. But what you can't imagine is that there is a resource that is theoretically inexhaustible, and that is Antarctic krill! How much more? According to relevant data estimates, the current resource reserves are about 5 to 1 billion tons, if you take 100 million tons, you can meet the needs of all mankind for marine fishing.
Although Antarctic krill is a gold mine floating on the sea, it also belongs to the global public resource pool, which is regulated by the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Commission (CCAMLR), with an annual fishing limit of 625,000 tons, but the total global catch from 2010 to 2017 is 200,000 to 300,000 tons, in other words, it has not been able to meet the quota target for so many years! So it's also impossible to overfish. The biggest threat to Antarctic krill comes from predators such as seals, squid, penguins, and large baleen whales, and with the increase in the number of human whaling and the super reproductive ability of krill itself, its number has increased a lot.
Saying that the climate in Antarctica is so harsh, why do countries travel thousands of miles to catch them? Antarctic krill are generally around 60 mm, very small, but their number is amazing, and the breeding period can even dye the sea water red and stretch for more than ten kilometers. More than four times the amount of fish available for catch in the world, it is known as "the last protein resource of mankind", and it is said that one Antarctic krill contains the same protein as 5 grams of beef. As a natural food for many fish and crustaceans, the economic value is huge, and it can even replace traditional fishery resources.
In addition to protein, Antarctic krill is also rich in amino acids needed by the human body, krill oil, lysine content is even higher than tuna and beef; astaxanthin as a natural antioxidant, can effectively improve the immunity of the organism; the amount of pollution is extremely low, can also be used in the field of commercial health care, for human beings is a pure natural treasure species.
Because of this, many countries smell its economic potential, have turned to the exploration and fishing of Antarctic krill, the earliest "crab-eating" country is the former Soviet Union, as early as the 60s of the last century began to prepare antarctic krill fishing, until 1972 "Antarctic exploration plan" landed, to find out the population distribution and resource reserves of Antarctic krill, the original small industry into a huge economic value of commercial fishing, since then Antarctic krill has become a hot economic species.
According to statistics, as early as 1977, the catch of Antarctic krill was as high as 105,000 tons, and reached its peak in 1982, soaring to 491,700 tons, while the total global fishing at that time was only 528,000 tons, and the Soviet Union accounted for 93% of the total global fishing share. Since then, krill has maintained a production capacity of more than 300,000 tons, until the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the following year fell sharply to 103,000 tons, although Russia inherited the mantle of the krill fishing industry in the later period, but it was unable to create glory, but there was a good foundation, but also laid the groundwork for the later "rise".
To say that the most "chicken thief" is Still Japan, he first saw the huge economic benefits brought by the former Soviet Union's fishing for Antarctic krill, and then began Antarctic pelagic fishing operations, saving a large amount of related research and exploration funds, not to mention, but also in the whaling at the same time to earn some extra money, of course, this depends on a strong industrial system.
The catch, which started at around 40,000 tonnes, increased to 57,000 tonnes the year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, while the total global catch at the time was only 65,000 tonnes, with Japan accounting for 88 percent of the total. Why are you so obsessed with Antarctic krill fishing? In fact, due to the embarrassing geographical constraints of the island nation, hundreds of millions of people can only obtain natural resources from the ocean, which can be seen from their obsession with whale hunting and tuna!
The ambition to catch public fishery resources is also reflected in another small country, that is, the rising star South Korea, while Japan is developing the Antarctic krill fishing industry, the next door South Korea also saw the opportunity, and it took only 3 years to surpass him. Norway, as a "dark horse", surpassed Japan's 24,000 tonnes and South Korea's 33,000 tonnes in 2007 with 40,000 tonnes.
Norway's determination to Antarctic krill fishing is reflected in the investment in new technologies, improved shrimp fishing technology, improved the processing capacity of products, since then the amount of shrimp caught has risen steadily, accounting for about 50% of the total global production, 2019 is more than 190,000 tons, with the development of the economy, the importance of Antarctic krill is more and more apparent, China, Russia, Chile, Ukraine and other countries have entered the game, but still can not change the situation of Norway alone.
Speaking of Russia, he and Japan belong to the traditional fishing power, especially the distant water fishing is tit-for-tat, Japan is trying to swallow the public resource "cake" is beyond reproach, but Russia itself is vast, rich in natural resources, and also wants to run to antarctica to share a piece of the pie, it is a bit of eating in the bowl and looking at the meaning of the pot.
The Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Bering in eastern Russia, together with 4.86 million square kilometers of fishable waters, are the confluence of multiple cold and warm currents, attracting fish from all over the world with abundant food sources, forming a large number of fishery resources. At a nearby Russian fishing farm, a medium-tonnage fishing boat can catch thousands of tons of fish at will every time it goes out to sea.
Catching his own fish, and then letting other countries have no fish to catch, this is his usual trick, such as salmon, China in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River for 70 years, in recent years can only catch more than 10,000 fish, while Russia can occupy the geographical advantage of the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River to fish, as early as 2010 broke through 22.75 million. Taking the Mingtai fish as an example, Russia not only fished heavily on the high seas as a "life-saving fish" on the Korean Peninsula, but also exported it to North and South Korea in turn.
As for Antarctic krill, Russia is also ambitious, as early as 2017, the Russian Federal Fisheries Commission formulated the "Russian Federation Fisheries Complex Development Strategy before 2030" plan, which is expected to invest 45 billion rubles for the fishing and processing of Antarctic krill, which is only 5 billion rubles less than the pillar industry salmon farming project. Although Russia has not been involved in the Antarctic krill industry for decades, but there is a foundation of the former Soviet Union, it is only a matter of time to do it, in May last year, Russian experts in the Antarctic krill after up to 5 months of resource investigation, found that the krill storage in some areas up to 60 million tons, to russia's style of doing things, this big cake does not eat white!
With the sharp decline of China's fishery resources, the importance of Antarctic krill has also been discovered in time, and while competing with Russia, we have also made sufficient efforts, although the foundation is poor, but the catch is steadily increasing, from 38,000 tons in 2017 to 41,000 tons in 2018. On May 14, 2020, China's heavyweight "Deep Blue" professional fishing vessel independently developed for the fishing of Antarctic krill was officially launched, which is up to 120 meters long, 21.6 meters wide, and has a design speed of 15 knots, which is a giant ship integrating fishing and processing, which can operate normally even in the low temperature environment of minus 25 ° C.
So it is certain that even if Norway is temporarily in the leading position in the Antarctic krill fishing industry, but absolutely can not stop Russia and China, the two larger dark horses, relative to fishing, the real sale is the real skill, and this may be the "short board" of Norway and Russia, in 2017 Norway has a large shrimp company, due to poor management and closed its doors; and Russia's dependence on the Chinese market is even greater, accounting for almost half of its total exports, Most of them are simple processing of primary aquatic products, and even exported to other countries through China's OEM processing.
So look at the problem can not look at the point, to see the face, to make the Antarctic krill into an industrial system, in order to truly dominate the "maritime gold mine", although Russia occupies the advantage of the source, but in the stamina is obviously insufficient, and china as long as the conscientious development of Antarctic krill fishing, with the super large domestic market, why worry about selling? It is believed that in the near future, among the Antarctic krill "giants" who point out the country, China will certainly not be absent.