First of all, let's get to know krill: the adult Antarctic krill is 45-60 mm long, and the largest is 90 mm. Its existence feeds almost all living things in the ocean. It is an important food source for penguins, baleen whales, blue whales, fish, seabirds and other marine life. It can be said that krill is an elf in the polar ocean.

Krill in the ocean

Antarctic krill mainly inhabits Antarctic surface water south of polar front, which varies greatly according to seasons and mature stages. From February 65438 to February the following year, mature individuals was distributed in the waters of continental slope, but there was no mature individuals. The vast majority of Antarctic krill live in the shallow surface layer of 50 meters, forming a cluster within 200 meters of the surface layer, and its cluster density varies according to different sea areas. Antarctic krill is mainly concentrated in Antarctic waters. They are distributed around the polar regions, and the highest density is in the Atlantic region.

The distribution of Antarctic krill shows that the denser the yellow spots, the larger the krill population.

The number of Antarctic krill is amazing. According to 198 1 to 1990, the Antarctic krill resource reserve is estimated to be1000 million tons. From the management point of view, the allowable catch of Antarctic krill is about 5.6 million tons, while the upper limit of actual allowable catch is about 600,000 tons. Since 20 10, the global catch of Antarctic krill has increased by about 40%. In 20 19, the global catch of Antarctic krill was nearly 400,000 tons. By August 2020, the catch has exceeded 420,000 tons, most of which are used for processing into feed for aquaculture or animal breeding. Among them, Japan catches the most krill. Not only that, Japan also has a special whaling team, which specializes in fishing in the Antarctic.

List of krill catches from 1973 to 20 15.

The krill breeding season is from 1 month to March every year. Female individuals can lay eggs many times in summer, each time they can produce thousands of eggs, and within a certain age range, their reproductive ability will increase with age. The food of krill is mainly tiny algae. Due to the convection exchange of cold and hot ocean currents in the waters near Antarctica, rich nutrients can be brought from the seabed to the upper water surface, providing rich nutrients for algae reproduction. Therefore, the ocean can provide enough food sources for the reproduction and growth of krill.

Although the ocean can provide abundant food for krill reproduction, with global warming, the temperature of seawater is gradually warming, which affects the living environment of krill. In addition, due to the increase of human fishing, the annual output of krill has also decreased. Therefore, the krill should be caught moderately to ensure that the krill population can be maintained at a certain number and maintain the sustainable development of the marine ecological environment.

Professional fishing boats are catching krill.

No, the number of krill caught by humans is small and moderate. Compared with the total amount of krill, this is only nine Niu Yi hairs.

There are many kinds of krill, which are distributed all over the world. Antarctic krill is the main krill captured by human beings. The quantity of Antarctic krill is very large, with a total mass of about 400-600 million tons, which is greater than the total mass of human beings in the world. Baleen whales, penguins, seals, seabirds, fish and squid eat about 300 million tons every year, but the total mass of Antarctic krill remains unchanged and always in a stable state, because Antarctic krill has strong reproductive ability.

Antarctic krill is distributed in the sea near the South Pole, which is an uninhabited land, so Antarctic krill is the common resource of all mankind.

Humans capture about 250,000 tons of Antarctic krill every year on average. China is the second largest Antarctic krill fishing country, with a catch of 65,000 tons in 20 17. However, compared with Norway, the largest fishing country, there is still a big gap, and South Korea has a large catch. There are always people on the Internet who say that China overfishes krill. These people are probably out of their minds.

The fishing exploration of Antarctic krill began in the early stage of 1960, and entered into large-scale commercial development in the middle stage of 1970. Fishing countries are divided into three stages:

1 stage. In 1980s, the Soviet Union (accounting for 93% of the total) and Japan were the main fishing countries. 1983 was the year with the highest catch of Antarctic krill, with 528,000 tons of Antarctic krill caught.

In the second stage, from the disintegration of the Soviet Union to the end of 1990s, there were mainly Japan, Chile, Russia, Poland, Ukraine and other countries, among which Japan accounted for 80% of the total catch, and the Japanese liked krill very much, calling it shrimp in sauce. 1993, Russia abandoned krill fishing, probably because of the long distance and high cost.

In the third stage of this century, in addition to the traditional Japanese fishing countries, South Korea, Norway, the United States, China and so on have joined.

Humans began to develop Antarctic krill resources in a controlled way in the last century, and Antarctic krill fishery was managed by CCAMLR under the framework of Antarctic Convention. At present, most Antarctic krill are produced in FAO48 fishing area. In 2000, researchers conducted a comprehensive investigation and evaluation of 48 fishing areas. According to the assessment, the Antarctic krill resources in 48 fishing areas are 44.29 million tons, and the fishing quota in this area is 4 million tons. Article 5 1-0 1 of CCAMLR conservation measures of 20 10 stipulates that "before the quota allocation is further refined, the total catch of krill in four sub-regions of 48. 1, 48.2, 48.3 and 48.4 in any fishing season must be further limited.

CCAMLR will set a reasonable krill fishing quota, protect the environment and ecosystem integrity of the waters around Antarctica, and protect Antarctic marine living resources. There are 25 member countries, some of which are the most powerful countries in the world. Anyone who dares to go fishing illegally in Antarctic waters (IUU) will definitely be severely punished.

In 2003, a trawler with Uruguayan flag Viarsa 1 went to the Antarctic waters to catch rare Patagonian toothfish illegally, and was followed by Australia, Britain and South Africa for 2 1 day, and chased all the way from the Antarctic to South Africa, and was finally intercepted, and more than 40 people on board were arrested.

Therefore, Antarctic resources are all over the world, and illegal fishing will definitely be punished. Moreover, because the Antarctic is too remote and the Antarctic waters are unpredictable, only a few powerful countries have the ability to catch krill in the Antarctic. Don't worry that Antarctic krill will be fished out. The biggest threats they face now are marine pollution and global warming.

If you want to finish eating krill, you need to catch krill first, and catching krill is not that easy. Far away in the Antarctic, the weather environment is bad. There are 3,000 ocean-going fishing boats in China, and only a handful of them can operate in Antarctica. There are the following:

(Take this question to send some pictures of our Antarctic krill fishing boat)

1972 was built in Japan, with length 1 10.75m, width 17.8m, gross tonnage of 5306, main engine 4 189.5KW and crew 100.

198 1 was built in Poland, with a length of102.65m and a width of17m, a gross tonnage of 4,630, a main engine of 3824KW and a crew of 100.

Fuyuanyu 98 18 was formerly Lian Xinghai of Liaoning Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd.

1988 made in Germany, length 120.7m, width 19m, gross tonnage 7765, main engine 5296KW, crew 135.

Up to now, there are only four large trawlers in China, which catch krill in Antarctica, with the maximum annual output of100000 tons, which is not enough for the huge Antarctic krill population.

The world's highest record output still occurred in the 1980s, only over 500,000 tons (Soviet Union).

Antarctic krill resources are managed by CCAMLR according to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which has 25 member countries, among which China is one.

Antarctica has protection and management rules far beyond people's imagination. There are strict restrictions on catching krill in Antarctica. Poaching and overfishing are impossible. Imagine that once you are found to be engaged in illegal fishing in Antarctica (IUU: illegal, unreported and unregulated), you will be blacklisted in 25 countries and wanted to ensure that you have nowhere to escape.

For example, in 2003, a Ukrainian fishing boat Viarsa 1 illegally fished Antarctic pike (silver cod) in the waters managed by the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Commission, and was chased by Australia and several international organizations for 2 1 day, spanning 3,900 nautical miles, and was finally captured in the waters near South Africa.

Fishing boat Viarsa 1

In fact, we should be concerned about environmental issues, rather than worrying about overfishing krill and eating it up. After all, human fishing activities have little impact on krill population. Due to global warming, krill resources have decreased by 80% since the 1980s.