Supplies of Antarctic krill are “extremely abundant,” according to the CEO of a major state-owned Chinese fishing company that recently announced the commission of a new krill fishing and processing vessel.
Liaoning Province Dalian Ocean Fishery Group Co. (also known as Liaoyu Group) sees krill as a “great opportunity” for his company’s development, according to CEO Li Ming, speaking in Dalian this week at the signing of the design contract with the Wuhan based 701 Research Bureau, affiliated with state-owned shipbuilder CSSC.
The contract will be a chance for the 701 Research Centre to showcase the “superiority” of its design work, Deputy Head Li Wei Lin said. With the contract, the shipbuilder emerges as a rival to Finnish firm Wärtsilä Ship Design Company for the growing business of building krill-fishing vessels for aspiring Chinese firms.
In March, Wärtsilä was commissioned to design a second krill processing vessel for Shanghai Chong He Industry Group (also known as Chong He Marine Heavy Industries Co), which has described its existing “Shen Lan” vessel – also designed by Wärtsilä – as the world’s largest purpose- built vessel for fishing Antarctic krill.
The new vessel will also be a “big step for our country’s South Pole strategy” Liaoyu boss Li said at the signing. China’s leadership has repeatedly stated its goal of further developing its presence in the Antarctic and Arctic regions. It is unclear if Liaoyu will build the new vessel itself, as it operates a shipbuilding subsidiary of its own, which last year completed a trawler for clients in Magadan, the port city on the Sea of Okhotsk. A note from Liaoyu at the time pointed out that much of the equipment installed on the 55.8-meter-long, 13-meter-wide vessel was imported.
While Norway leads the world in krill catch in tonnage, the construction of the Shen Lan has doubled the tonnage China captures. China’s interest in the krill fishery is largely funded by state-owned enterprises and the development of the sector has been aided by subsidies for vessel construction.
Government backing is essential in the krill race, according to Dmitri Sclabos, the head of Chile-based krill consultancy Tharos. Sclabos told SeafoodSource that Poland quit the Antarctic krill fishery in 2010, and while Russia’s last Antarctic krill voyage (undertaken by the Murmansk Trawl Fleet Company, managed through Hong Kong based Ocean Trawlers Holdings, which has since become NOREBO), was in 2010. However, Russia is exploring a return to the fishery as part of a strategy to increase its domestic seafood production.
“The former U.S.S.R. had too many boats under government support. These are all gone,” Sclabos told SeafoodSource. “Russia might come back … it is analyzing seriously its return to this fishery, by two companies, both government supported.”
Photo courtesy of Tarpan/Shutterstock
