Wando County Governor Shin Woo-cheol Visits Soan Seaweed Farm to Hear Fishermen's Difficulties

Wando-gun Soan Kim Efforts to Produce High-Quality Seaweed Including Development of Superior Kim Seed Varieties

Shin Woo-cheol, Wando County Governor, visited the seaweed farming grounds to encourage the hard work of fishermen and listen to their difficulties. (Photo by Wando County)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Kyung-pil] Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do announced on the 13th that County Governor Shin Woo-cheol visited the seaweed farming grounds in Mira-ri, Soan-myeon on the 10th to encourage the fishermen’s hard work and listen to their difficulties and suggestions as the full-scale seaweed production season begins.

Soan-myeon is known as the hometown of seaweed, accounting for 60% (33,000 tons annually) of Wando-gun’s seaweed production, mainly producing seaweed for gimbap, and seaweed farming has established itself as an important source of income generating 30 billion KRW.

The total amount of Soan seaweed sold at auction from December 20 to January 9 was 2,028 tons, which is analyzed to have decreased by 38% compared to the previous year due to the rise in seawater temperature caused by consecutive typhoons and climate change last year.

The total expected seaweed production in Wando-gun this year is 62,000 tons.

Shin Hyun-sang, head of the Soan branch of the Seaweed Producers Association, said, “Fishermen are facing difficulties due to recent poor seaweed production,” and added, “We ask for the county’s continuous interest and support so that Soan seaweed can become the best seaweed in the country.”

Wando County Governor Shin Woo-cheol said, “We are currently commissioning the Jeonnam Marine Fisheries Science Institute’s Fisheries Seed Research Center to develop high-quality Soan seaweed seeds, and plan to apply for new variety registration after new variety application and cultivation tests in 2020,” and added, “We will make further efforts to have Soan seaweed recognized as a representative seaweed of Korea.”

Meanwhile, Wando-gun is promoting eco-friendly buoy supply projects, high-quality seaweed seedling supply, and seaweed activator supply projects to produce high-quality seaweed in response to the central government’s export item expansion policy and the increase in seaweed exports and domestic consumption.

In addition, through active marketing, they are striving to promote seaweed consumption and exports, achieving dried seaweed exports worth 11,583,000 USD to global markets such as Europe and the United States.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.