Head of the Russian Fishery Agency Ilya Shestakov. (Photo: Stockfile/FIS)

Russian scientists to assess krill reserves in the Antarctic

RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Monday, October 22, 2018, 23:40 (GMT + 9)

The Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) is planning to begin a scientific expedition to the Antarctic waters to study the state of the krill reserves.

In the framework of a meeting of the Maritime Collegium of the Russian Federation Government in Kaliningrad, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Russia and Head of the Russian Fishery Agency Ilya Shestakov spoke about the importance of international marine expeditions and the plans of Russian scientists to study the resource base of the World Oceans, Maritime News of Russia reported.

During the first voyage of the scientific teams of the Russian Fishery Agency to the Antarctic, fishing prospects will be explored and emphasis will be placed on the development of technology for krill waste-free processing.

“This is a huge source of raw materials for the production of food products, feed, and pharmaceuticals,” explained Ilya Shestakov, who also pointed out that research will continue throughout 2019-2020.

The allowed world catch of krill is more than 5.6 million tons per year, in fact, only 250-300 thousand tons are collected.

Krill distribution on a NASASeaWIFS image – the main concentrations are in the Scotia Sea at the Antarctic Peninsula

The Russian fishing fleet has not been operating in the krill fishery for more than 20 years, while, according to the estimates of the

Russian Fishery Agency, the underutilized resource ranges from 5 to 15 million tons.

Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences will also take part in the research as set in the agreement signed with the Federal Agency for Fishery in September 2018.

Animation by Uwe Kils with modifications by Stigmatella aurantiaca - derivative image of File:Krilllobsterkils.gif. (Source: Wikipedia)

The research fleet of the Rosrybolovstvo annually conducts numerous expeditions to assess the dynamics of the most demanded aquatic biological resources in the domestic field both in the zone of Russian jurisdiction and beyond.

“In 2018, the Government of Russia allocated additional funds for the expedition. In addition, we completed the consolidation of the research fleet in the Far East, which made it possible to identify reserves for expanding the areas of scientific research voyages in the most important Pacific Rim for Russia,” said Deputy Minister Shestakov.

Rosrybolovstvo planned the construction of new research vessels, the design of the first vessel will be completed this year.

At present, work continues on the formation of a plan for the sea expeditions of the Russian scientific fleet until 2030. First of all, this is a study of the little-studied stocks of pelagic and deep-sea species.

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