MFR PAPER 1063 Northern Hemisphere fish might tap the rich kn/J stocks of the Southern Ocean. Salmon-Future Harvest from the Antarctic Ocean? TIMOTHY JOYNER, CONRAD V. W. MAHNKEN, and ROBERT C. CLARK, JR. INTRODUCTION The ocean surrou nding the Ant­ arctic continent IS an e normou res­ en oir of protein. A worl d inc reas­ ingl~ beset with food shortage can­ not for long afford to let it re main unhane~ted. The ke) to thi un­ tapped bount) I a little red cru ta­ cean. Euphausia superha. that looks like a small shrimp and is commonl y Krill, a small crustacean of the species Euphausia superba, forms a major part of the food called I·.rill A product of the im­ supply of the whale population of the Southern Ocean . mense fertillt~ of the Southern Ocean. its food suppl) is a sured by lush estimated th e potenti al a nnual catch ought we not to try to get help from pastures of single-cell ed marine pl a nts of krill to be 100 mill ion tons . some other creature better equipped In the fertde zone of circumpolar Thi eno rmous abundance of krill by nature to do it ? To a limited up\\elling (Figure I). Second in the ha been a source of fascination to extent baleen whales once did this. short A ntarctic food chai n. kri II fis hing a nd food interests throughout H owever. as they breed slowly and underlies the remaining links made the ~orld . The So\iet and the Japa­ produce few offspri ng. the stocks up of quid. penguins. sea birds. seals. nese are developing techniques for were 0 decimated by inten ive whale and \\ hale. processing krill into a palatable food fishing that they are now threatened Inten I\e stud) b~ So\iet scienti ts product. Harves ting it. though. is a with extinction . Since none of the of data obtained b) fi hery research di ffic ult and expensive proposition. other links of the short Antarctic \essels. operating in Antarctic waters requiring la rge vessels operating for food chain that depend on krill could since the earl) 1960·s. has produced extended peri ods fa r from thei rhome with tand intensi e harve ting either. e\ Idence that e\.ploitation of krill re­ ports. With the skyrocketing price it would eem logical to e amine th e sources could at least double the of petroleum fu els brought on by the prospects for introduction of pecies present global production of aquatic world-wide energy crisis. the pro­ from the great diversity of arctic a nd animals. In late 1973. scientists of th e pects for a profitable high eas krill subarctic fauna . Succe in introduc­ AII-Cmon Institute of larine F ish­ fis hery now seem dim indeed . ing exotic species to Antarctic waters eries and Oceanograph) (V I RO) would be favored by: PROSPECTS FOR AN (1) Adaplahiliry 10 life Of sea alld T imoth) Jo), ner, Conrad V. W. Mahnken, a nd R o be rt C. Clark, ALTERNATIVE HARVEST a propellsiry ro feed 011 lIlarille plallk­ Jr .. are all members of the staff roll.-Except for the barren. ice­ of the North" est F isherie Cen­ there another way of tapping covered Antarctic continent. there is ter, National Marine Fisheri es little land in the Southern Ocean. en ice, NOAA, 2725 Mont­ this ast Antarctic reser oir of pro­ tein? Since we cannot yet hane t lake Bh d. E., Seattle, W A Figure 1.-Krill resources in the Southern 98112. krill economically by our elve . Ocean-summer distribution. 20 150 170 n o ~I Onl) crcaturc~ \Icll auaptcu to oCCdn e\l)\IC species to hc Inlrlluu\.:Cu to lor s.tilllon 01 all spccic, Optll11Um lifc anu ablc to fccu on planh.ton \lllarctlL scas should hc e"S\ tn h"r­ tClllpcraturc, lor the u(;'elorrnenl \\oulu bc able to thnlc lll1 the abull­ \esl allu t\l pw\.:css 1111(1 " Icaull) ,wd grll\lth 1I1 'ialllllln VM} hetwecn uant h.nll . marh.etahlc produLI 01 ,"I thc SPCCICS thcw e tremc' ,Iccoruing tll ~recie'i (2) Adu[lluhilily 10 (old II ,1/ , I \Ie ha\c \.:\lll'ldcICU s,tillWIl arc h\ <lnu race hut arc generilll} clo~e to Thc greate~t abunuance (11 h.nll (lCCUrS lar the l11\lSt pr,)mis1l1g canuld"tc' the <I\Crdge Icmpcrature 01 grounu­ ~outh of the Ilt a rctlc (llilleigencc \latel In Ihe center 1I1 thc ,pill\nlng 1\ herc watc r tempc ratures at the SUI ­ rancc 01 Ihe todo: 1'lClng \.:on"uereu. SALMON lace rangc I rllm 5 III 0 ( On thc hl\!h e,I'. Ihe tempcrature (3) Hi...:" .I, (1Il1 dfll I he brllau. rrclcrenccs 01 "timoll ..tr\; h,lruer to circumpo lar uI,tnbution o f h.rill III General Characteristics ucterllli ne \ range I rom 2 to 12 ( the \I a tc r\ so uth llf the Antarctic Illr Pacillc ..tImon \la'i Inlerred Irom (om crgence \Iould encourag,- \IIUe r hc '1\ P<lclllc SPCCICS g,-nus Ilhscnallnn, III 'iurfal.:c \I,iler tempcra­ ulsperslOn of species Iceuing lln them Oll( o r/II II< "1\ a nd thc (111,- \ 11"ntlc turcs tdh.en elln urrentl~ \llth gill net Pro lific spccle~ prlluuclng large nU111 - spCLles ) , IIIIf} ,,11,/1 , <lrc ,luapII, u tll set In)lll thher} rc cdfeh \C el (p<.:r­ ber ~ o f o lhpnng Irl1 111 lelati\eh Ie \1 ellid suharLlie \\atcrs \p"\lnlnl! In atlng tn the Ilnh P,ICilIC I Tdhlc I) mat1l1g e ncountcrs \\ll ulu help Insure Iresh \1 <ltcr. thc) 111i..:ratl. III SC.I ,IS [he l)rdcr l I prelerr<.:d temperalure gro\\Ih llf a tran,pla nteu pllpulatilln ju\cniks [hcrc thc) rangc lllcr thl u ­ lo r th<.: dillerent 'pecIc I (d.c}e. S<lIlUS \.11 mile ,11 ,leC"n tl) Iccd .Ind (4) Prlllt'( 11011 'or l l.;"': ' ullil Iur­ () 11"/..(/, .I11U chum . () k UI/ < pin 1-... gnl\1 I<lt ,In pl'lnh.lllnlc eruslal.edn I Ul' -l .lrge populatillns III plltent ial (J, /.:orh llll //(/ < eh1l1o 1-.. (J. 1I " (/II} /­ preuators such as se a blru a nu planh.­ and 111 ,"1 Ilsh "><.:\(;r," )CMS I<lter " I< /Ill < cllho. (J. /.. {\/I/c fl . and cherr) . IOn-straining manne mammal, \Ioulu auulh. thc) rdurn tll thc n\cr \Ihere (J. 1111/ 1(// / thc\ \I c rc spa\\ neu t<l Cl l111picte thc threatcn the suni\al llf planh.tllnl'­ r he tagc "I de\c!opment at \I hlch Juvc11lle stages o f tran,pl a nteu ,t\.)ch., e) clc. [hc Ilc h I nutntlllU , hlghh salllhln can elkct the change Irom Speclcs that atloru , o me prl)tectlon pa la t.tblc. ,I nd Cl1111111 ,lnd prClll lUm Iresh to alt \\ilter all \ane \\lIh fllr their \ulncra ble o fhpnn g \\llulu m a rh. c t pncc \1 hcre\Lr It I llid . specie anu ra\.:e. r<lnglng Ir'm nc\\I) hale an Importa nt au\ a ntagc 111 thc h,ltcheu In t,1 large tl11gerl1l1g evcral struggle to e tabl"h a ,clf-rcp n)duclng Environmental Preference \ eilr (llu. I l1r the uilh:rcnt pecIc pupulatlon. thc I/C .It \\ hlch alt \\atcr can hl: (5) A lij, (' (It' 1II111( /I/m: 1/'< [lluud In hllth Pacific anu -\tlantlc O\.:ean tlllerateu gcnerilll~ 1,)11(1\1 thc llruer o( (}CClIlI ( /'( 'tililioll -The I\ CSt \11I1U salnllln range Irllm the arctic ICC III chum '.I11U plnh. < \lch.c~c < chtn\.ll\'; dn ve' thc surface \\ a te rs o f t hc the subarctle- uhtrllpic<ll bllunuan < c,lhl' < chcrn anu Atlantic. Southern Ocean east\\ ard a t a n a\ er­ anu spa\ln In trc,lms ,In b,lth IUCS age spced of I h. not. proull<':: 1I1 g a l)f the t\\ 0 ,lceans The Clllli \\ d THE SOUTHERN OCEAN global CirCU it at lat 50 ') In h90 u a) s mLlrlnc climates ,11 nllrth\\estern Species feeding rando ml ) 111 the lone orth mcnca ,md furllpc prouuce The ,cas SUrrl)U nUl ng ntarcllca of the Antarctic Com e rgence. If thc) partlcularl\ la\ orable cl)nuitillns Illr glru thc carth Unbrl)h.cn b) a11\ Ig­ matureu in a Similar 1I1ter\'al o r m ul­ salmon In thcse climatiC Zllnc\ the niticant lanu mas, l) Il1nger regarucu tiple thereof. \Iould tlnu thcmsehes tempcraturc 01 thc grounu\\atcr that Illcrcl) as thc c\.)nl'lucncc 0\ thc P acillc. cl o ~ e to the place \Iherc the) began tccu~ thc streams In \\ hlch '.lImon -\tlantic. anu Inulan Oceans. the) the ir h\ e . ThiS \\oulu be an ad\ a nt­ spa\1 n gencrall) rangcs Irom '\ 10 arc no\\ rccognizeu a a UI IInct bou) age fo r man) speCICS , as brceul ng 10 C \\ 1I1ters are mild anu ,ummcr~ of \\ ater \\ hlch I Cl)1ll1l1g 10 be patterns could be auapteu to a Single arc cool so that the streams. rJ\ers. callcu the l)uthcrn Occan b) geogra­ set o f em ironmenta l co nditions . anu lah.cs seluom frcczc ~ollu nor phcr, and l1cea nographer around Be) ond h a l ing the biologica l abil­ nsc abo\ e 20 C . a rangc \1 hlch span thc \\ orlu it} to adapt to the new emiro nment. the limits of tcmpcraturc tolcrable The West Wind Drift Table 1.