F-28 



Table 6.13. Catches of krill in area 58, and of unspecified Marine Crustacea by certain 

 countries in areas 41 1 47 1 51» 57 snd 87 



metric tons 



In addition to these figures McWhinnie (1974) and El-Sayed (l975)i estimate that a 

 total of 200 000 tons of krill have been taken per season in recent years. This figure is 

 not supported by further evidence and it probably refers to total landings of krill and fish 

 (gee section on fish exploitation). 



From the foregoing it is evident that the present fishery, taking as it does about 

 20 000 tone per year, is still only having minimal effect on the resource. However, all of 

 the nations presently involved in exploratory fishing are capable of mounting quite a con- 

 siderable effort and thus increase the size of the fishery very quickly. 



Catch Rates 



Development of a fishery based on a novel resource means that exploratory fishing oper- 

 ations may well meet with only limitp<l success initially. In the early stages there have 

 been problems with detection as well as gear operation and although a critical review is 

 outside the terms of reference for this paper information on the development of the fishery 

 is set out in Table 6.I4. 



Although the figures of 10-12 ton/hr by "special midwater trawl" for the early stages 

 of commercial fishing by USSR in the Scotia Sea (Lyubimova et al. 1973)l/ appear exaggerated, 

 the evidence of the V/est German expedition suggests that catch rates of this order are now 

 reasonable. 



6.9 Stock Assessment 



Some Theoretical Considerations 



The build up in sophistication of fishing technique over the past few years clearly in- 

 dicates the possibility tliat a large scale fishery could be established in a relatively 

 short period of time. Detection and catching methods have now reached the point when an ex- 

 cess of material can be provided for currently available processing operations. The main 

 obstacles to the expansion of the fishery now lie in product development and marketing and 

 these are receiving increasing attention. Any of the nations currently involved in fishing 

 for krill (USSR, Japan, Federal Republic of Germany, Poland, Chile) could either on their 

 own or with outside help solve the processing and marketing problems £ind vastly increase 

 their present catch so that a total catch of a million tons or more is a distinct possibil- 

 ity in the immediate future. Even allowing for the fact that this is a small figure in 

 comparison to the estimated krill production, once fisheries of this size are established 

 they tend rapidly t^ expand to their fullest capacity. Therefore even though it is not cer- 

 tain that the krill fishery will expand it is necessary to formulate a management plan now 

 to enable the needs of conservation and capital investment to be fulfilled. There is clearly 

 a need therefore for: 



1/ Seo also Kryuchkova ejt al . 1971 • 



