Krill is comparable to the food that feeds life on Earth, humans will eat all the krill?

First, let's get to know krill: adult Antarctic krill are 45-60 millimeters long, the largest 90 millimeters. It exists and almost feeds most of the creatures in the ocean. It is an important source of food for penguins, baleen whales, blue whales, fish, seabirds, and other marine life, and it can be said that krill is the spirit of the polar ocean.

Swarms of krill in the ocean

Antarctic krill inhabits Antarctic surface waters mainly south of the polar front, and varies greatly depending on the season and stage of maturity. From December to February each year, mature individuals are found in the waters of the continental slope and immature individuals are found on the edge of the continental shelf. The vast majority of Antarctic krill live in the surface layer at a depth of 50 meters, and form clusters within 200 meters of the surface layer, with cluster densities varying according to the sea area. Antarctic krill are mainly concentrated in Antarctic waters. They are distributed around the polar regions, with the highest densities in the Atlantic.

The distribution of Antarctic krill, the denser the yellow dots indicate that the greater the number of krill populations

Antarctic krill reserves are rich and very impressive, according to the 1981-1990 a number of countries to participate in the two "Southern Ocean Biological Resource Reserves Survey," statistics, Antarctic Ocean krill resources are estimated to have a 6 to 1 billion tons of reserves. From the management level, the catchable amount of Antarctic krill is around 5.6 million tons, while the upper limit of the actual catchable amount is about 600,000 tons. Since 2010, the global catch of Antarctic krill has increased by about 40%, and in 2019, the global catch of Antarctic krill was nearly 400,000 tons, and as of August 2020, the catch has exceeded 420,000 tons, with the vast majority of the catch being used to be processed into feed for aquaculture or animal breeding. Among them, Japan is the country that catches the most krill, and not only that, Japan has a specialized whaling team that specializes in fishing in the Antarctic.

List of krill catches from 1973 to 2015

Every year, from January to March is the breeding season of krill, and females can spawn several times in the summer, each time they can spawn thousands of grains, and reproduction increases with age within a certain age range. The krill's food is mainly tiny algae, due to the exchange of hot and cold ocean currents in the waters near the Antarctic convection, can bring the seabed rich in nutrients to the upper surface of the water, for the algal bloom to provide rich nutrients. Thus the ocean can provide a sufficient food source for krill reproduction and growth.

Although the ocean can provide a rich food for krill reproduction, with global warming, sea water temperature gradually warming warming, affecting the survival of krill environment, coupled with the increasing human fishing, krill annual production has declined . Therefore, we should control the fishing of krill to ensure that the population of krill can be maintained at a certain number, to maintain the sustainable development of the marine ecosystem.

Specialized fishing boats catching krill

No, the human catch of krill is very small and regulated, a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of krill.

There are many different kinds of krill, and they are found in all the world's oceans, but the main species of krill fished by humans is the Antarctic krill. Antarctic krill is very large, with a total mass of about 400-600 million tons, which is larger than the total mass of humans worldwide. Baleen whales, penguins, seals, seabirds, fish, and squid eat about 300 million tons per year, but the total mass of Antarctic krill remains the same and is always in a stable state because Antarctic krill reproduce very well.

Antarctic krill are distributed in the waters near the South Pole, which is terra nullius, so Antarctic krill is a resource that all of humanity **** has.

Humans catch about 250,000 tons of Antarctic krill per year on average, China is the second largest Antarctic krill fishing country, with 65,000 tons caught in 2017, but there is still a big gap with Norway, the first largest fishing country, and South Korea also catches a lot of krill. (There are always people on the internet saying that China overfishes krill, and these people are probably not very bright.)

Antarctic krill fisheries development trial catch survey began in the early 1960s, the mid-1970s that entered the large-scale commercial development. Fishing countries are divided into three stages:

The first stage, in the 1980s, the Soviet Union (accounting for 93% of the total) and Japan as the main fishing countries, in 1983 is the highest Antarctic krill fishing volume of the year, there are 528,000 tons of Antarctic krill were caught.

Phase 2, after the collapse of the Soviet Union to the end of the 1990s, mainly Japan, Chile, Russia, Poland, Ukraine and other countries, of which Japan accounted for 80% of the entire catch, the Japanese people are very fond of eating krill, called it punch sauce shrimp. 1993, Russia gave up the krill fishing industry, may be a long way to go, the cost is too high.

The third stage is this century, fishing countries in addition to the traditional Japanese, but also added South Korea, Norway, the United States, China and so on.

Humans in the last century began to Antarctic krill resources for the implementation of controlled development, Antarctic krill fisheries by the Antarctic Convention under the framework of the "Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources" (CCAMLR) to manage. The vast majority of Antarctic krill is currently produced in FAO Area 48, which was comprehensively surveyed and assessed by researchers in 2000. The assessment concluded that the Antarctic krill resource in Area 48 was 44.29 million tons and recommended a catch limit of 4 million tons for this area. 2010 CCAMLR Conservation Measure 51-01 states that, until the allocation of the limit is further refined, "the total catch of krill in the four sub-areas of 48.1, 48.2, 48.3, and 48.4 shall be further limited to 620,000 tons in any fishing season". shall be further limited to 620,000 tons."

The CCAMLR sets reasonable krill fishing quotas to protect the environment and ecosystem integrity of the waters surrounding the Antarctic and to conserve Antarctic marine living resources. There are 25 member countries, and several of the world's most powerful countries are among them, so if anyone dares to run into Antarctic waters to fish illegally (IUU), they will certainly be severely punished.

In 2003, a Uruguayan-flagged Viarsa 1 trawler ran to Antarctic waters to illegally fish for rare Patagonian toothfish, and was tracked by Australia, the UK, and South Africa for 21 days, all the way from the Antarctic to South Africa, where it was finally intercepted, and more than 40 people on board were all arrested.

So, Antarctica's resources are worldwide, and if you break the rules to go fishing illegally, you're sure to be penalized. And because the Antarctic is too remote, the Antarctic waters are treacherous, only a very few countries with stronger strength have the ability to go to the Antarctic to catch krill, do not worry about the Antarctic krill will be fished out, they are now facing the biggest threat of marine pollution and global warming.

Want to eat up krill, first need to be able to catch krill back to the line, and catching krill is not so easy. Distant Antarctica, the weather environment is harsh, our country's 3,000 ocean-going fishing vessels, can operate in the Antarctic only a few, there are the following:

(borrowed from this issue, send some of our Antarctic krill fishing boat pictures)

1972 Japan built, 110.75 meters long, 17.8 meters wide, gross tonnage of 5,306, the main engine 4,189.5KW, crew of 100 people. 100 persons.

Built in Poland in 1981, length 102.65m, breadth 17m, gross tonnage 4630, main engine 3824KW, crew 100.

"Fuyuan Fishing 9818" was formerly known as "Lianxinghai" of Liaoning Ocean Fishing Co.

Built in Germany in 1988, length 120.7m, width 19m, gross tonnage 7,765, main engine 5,296KW, crew 135. The crew is 135 persons.

So far, there are only four large trawlers in the country, fishing krill in the Antarctic, the total annual output of up to 100,000 tons, this production of Antarctic krill this huge population, scratching the itch are not enough.

The world's highest recorded production still occurred in the 1980s, but only more than 500,000 tons (USSR).

The Antarctic krill resource is managed by CCAMLR under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which has 25 member countries, of which China is one.

Antarctica has far more than ordinary people imagine the protection of management rules, to go to Antarctica to catch krill there are a variety of strict restrictions, want to poach indiscriminate fishing is simply impossible, imagine once found in Antarctica to engage in illegal fishing (IUU: Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated), you will be included in the blacklist of the 25 countries and wanted to ensure that you go to the sky into the earth, there is no place to run.

An example: in 2003, a Ukrainian fishing vessel, the Viarsa 1, illegally fished for Antarctic Dogfish (Silver Cod) in waters under the management of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and was wildly pursued for 21 days across 3900 nautical miles by Australia and several international organizations, and finally captured off South Africa.

Fishing boat Viarsa 1

In fact, instead of worrying about overfishing for krill and eating it all up, we should be concerned about the environment - after all, the impact of human fishing activities on krill populations, which have been declining in resources by 80% since the 1980s because of global warming, is minimal.