ABSTRACT
The total world fish catch (including shellfish) reached a
plateau in the early 1970s at about 70 million tons per
annum, and has since remained steady or declined. Estimates
of the total world potential of conventional marine living
resources indicate that the total sustainable catch is of the
order of about 100 million tons per annum (Gulland 1976).
With the rapid increase in the world’s population over the past
few decades, and the increased demand for protein, attention
has been focussed on currently unexploited resources, in
particular, the harvesting of unconventional resources. Of
the latter, many consider Antarctic krill as the most promising
resource. Fishing restrictions placed on many fishing nations
by the establishment of 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones
