In September 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture officially launched the Project on the Development and Utilisation of Marine Antarctic Bio-Resources, with Li Jianhua, Director-General of the MOA Bureau of Fisheries as chief of the project and Chen Xuezhong, Head of the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences as Chief of working team of the project.
According to Mr Xuezhong, the catcher vessel left for the Antarctic region from Uruguay on December 18, 2009, with eight experts on board.
They set up 88 survey points in the catching zones, and succeeded in catching krills with improved techniques. The team also collected bio-information and data on the krill and sorted out the general pattern of the krills’ behaviour. In addition, experiments on processing were conducted on the vessel, to extract active substance such as krill oil and lecithin from the krill for initial research.
China has obtained international recognition in its effort for comprehensive utilisation of Antarctic krill and related products.
In 2009, Shandong Keruier Biological Products Co., Ltd. joined Ocean University of China to establish the project office of research in Antarctic krill and testing center, with outcomes of a series of krill products, involving several technological achievements, which can be applied in fields of bio-pharmaceutics, food, agriculture, and environment protection.
Professor Jiang Guoliang, Specially-appointed Professor of Keruier and head of the research group on comprehensive utilisation of Antarctic krill of Ocean University of China, and graduate student Wang Ya’en took part in the first trial catch of krill, and carried out research in preservation techniques, at-the-sea processing and active substance of krill.
On March 10, Keruier signed an initiated agreement of cooperation with Norwegian Aker BioMarine Group which is the first player in the utilisation of Antarctic krill wih the largest amount of catch and highest capacity of relevant research.
According to the agreement, the two parties will carry out cooperation in building China’s first specialised catching vessel for the Antarctic region, establishing R&D and processing base for krill products, and promote transnational trade of relevant products.
Research And Trial Catch Of Antartic Krill
CHINA - China is conducting trial catches of marine bio-resources in the Antartic region so as to utilise the resources in the region. A team of scientists have returned with 2000 tonnes of Antartic krill and information on the living environment and processing techniques of krill.
