15-ship fleet to study krill

Press, 23 October 1980, Page 3

15-ship fleet to study krill

A primary schoolteacher,, and a sates clerk in an engineering company, are the winners of “The Press" $1000 Fashion Wardrobe Competition. Both received a cash prize of $5OO, which win be spent at the Fashion Houses featured in the Spring-Summer Fashion Forecast that appeared in “The Press” of. October 7. For Mrs Joan Cradock, aged 27, of 294 Wainoni Road, Wainoni, a teacher at the Freeville Primary School, it was ' the" first time she had won a prize in a competition. \ Mr Brian Greenwood, aged/. 20, L of 69. Sewell Street, Kaiap'oi, a sales cleric with Steel and Tube (N.Z.), Ltd, however, confessed to “having, once won a ham.” . , • ? \ About 3000 people entered the competition. The prizes were awarded to the first two entrants, male and female, drawn from the correct entries received for the Fashiongram Contest, in ' which the jumbled names of companies involved in the advertising feature had to be identified. The correct answers to the com* petition appear in an advertisement. on this page.

Special correspondent ~ . Queenstown ' ; ■ A tiny- shrirhp-like' fish that lives in the cold waters of the sub-Antarctic wiH this summer be one of the targets of the largest biological oceanographic programme yet mounted. A fleet of 15 research vessels with the backing of 13 countries will join forces to study the southern ocean marine ecosystem, with special reference to krilL Krill (a Norwegian word meaning “small fish”) is a shrimp-like crustacean just five centimetres long with antennae. It is found south of the Antarctic convergence and is attracting increasing attention from the world’s fishing nations because it is easy to catch, is high on protein (about 15 per cent), and can be found in vast quantities at certain times of the year. The commercial interest in krill has prompted the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research to make a special study of the fish in southern waters. Scientists of several member nations of the organisation have

presented papers on the subject at the biennial conference of S.C.AJL at present taking place in Queenstown. S.C.A.R. is co-ordinating a 10-year biomass programme in the Southern Ocean, a cooperative marine research exercise involving 13 of the 14 S.C.A.R. member countries.

The committee’s president, Professor G. A. Knox, of New Zealand, told the conference earlier this week that this summer’s research assault would pay particular attention to krilL The scientists’ interest is based as much on a concern for the balance, of the ecology of the area as it is on the commercial and food potential of krilL Krill is.-the .main, link in the food web of the whole Southern Ocean, It provides the main food supply of five species of whale, three species of ( seal, 20 fish, three squid, and numerous birds. Antarctic Treaty powers have now acknowledged the need to monitor the effect of catch levels on all parts of tiie food chain. If krill catches are too high, the population of predominant

species in the area could be depleted. The introduction of 200mile fishing zones has meant that many countries have had to look for new fishing grounds and Antarctic waters are attracting increasing attention. The Soviet Union and Japan were the main krillfishing nations during earlier years. Others have since joined in. New Zealand is listed as a country with a “limited interest.” Seven or eight Japanese fishing companies are reported to have sent krillharvesting ships to Antarctic waters last season.- Two research programmes were also carried out. In the period between January and April, shoals often contain 12 kilograms of krill per cubic yard, and West German ships have reported catches up to 40 tons an hour.

It has been estimated that 150 million tons of the fish could be taken each year. If half that amount was caught, it would equal the total world fish catch for 1977.