Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small
plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are
too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the
currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.
Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow
on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In
potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of the land
grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world
produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year, the
sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much.
Despite its enormous food potential, little effect was made until
recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine
scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as
the sea’s resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an
expanding world population.
No one yet has seriously suggested that “ plankton-burgers” may soon
become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food
source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine
scientists.
One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a
tiny shrimp-like creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches
long, krill provides the major food for the great blue whale, the
largest animal to ever inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may
grow to 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising
that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily.
