Krill fishery

Krill fishery is the profitable fishery of krill, small shrimp-like marine animals that live in the oceans world-wide. Estimates for how much krill there is vary wildly, depending on the methodology used. They range from 125–725 million tones of biomass globally. The total global harvest of krill from all fisheries amounts to 150 – 200,000 tones annually, mainly Antarctic krill (Euphausia superb) and North Pacific krill (E. Pacifica).

Krill are rich in protein (40% or more of dry weight) and lipids (about 20% in E. superb). Their exoskeleton amounts to some 2% of dry weight of chitin. They also contain traces of a wide array of hydrolytic enzymes such as proteases, carbohydrates, nucleases and phospholipids, which are intense in the digestive gland in the cephalothoraxes of the krill.