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INTRODUCTION 



The Antarctic region has a varied history of geographic 

 exploration, scientific research, and commercial exploitation. 

 The biological richness of the Antarctic marine ecosystem 

 has long been recognized. The magnitude and economic success 

 of Antarctic sealing and whaling attest to the enormous size 

 of the living resources (prior to their devastation) that 

 historically were supported within the Antarctic marine 

 ecosystem. 



As it becomes more difficult for world fisheries production 

 to meet demand, people are looking once again to the Antarctic 

 as a source of bountiful, exploitable food resources. Seals, 

 whales, fish, squid and octopus, lobsters and crabs, and 

 krill have been identified as species groups with potential 

 harvest value. Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) is 

 receiving the most attention for a new large-scale fishery 

 (Hardy, 1965; Schaeffer, 1965; Nemoto, 1966; Burukovskii, 

 1967; Burukovskii and Yaragov, 1967; Il'icher, 1967; Osochenko, 

 1967; Stasenko, 1967; Sasaki et al . , 1968; Marty, 1969; 

 Gulland, 1970; Makarov et al . , 1970; Mackintosh, 1970; 

 Moiseev, 1970; Nemoto and Nasu, 1975; and Tomo and Marschoff, 

 1977) . 



A. Proposed Krill Surplus 



Many proposing the development of an Antarctic krill 

 fishery suggest the existence of a krill surplus within the 

 Antarctic marine ecosystem. They reason: 1) prior to heavy 

 whaling, baleen whales ate enormous quantities of krill 

 annually; 2) the great numbers of whales that have been 

 killed no longer eat krill; 3) since fewer whales eat krill, 

 there must be an unexploited surplus of krill; and 4) an 

 unexploited krill population potentially constitutes a new 

 major fishery. Although the extent of the so-called surplus 

 is uncertain, the economic and social forces for developing 

 a large krill fishery have excited much interest in how to 

 best harvest krill. Unfortunately, the current excitement 

 about krill harvesting seems to have ignored, in many instances, 

 questions of the ecological wisdom of developing a krill 

 fishery. 



B. Development of a Krill Fishery 



The Soviet Union, Japan, Germany, and Poland, are among 

 the nations interested in developing krill fisheries. The 

 Soviets' interest has been increasing since 1955, and Soviet 

 exploratory expeditions beginning in 1962 have provided 

 information on the biology and distribution of Antarctic 

 krill. Since 1969, Soviet commercial fleets have reported 



