Unification of Aquatic Product 'Disinfection' and 'Quarantine' under the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Announces Legislative Notice for Amendment of 'Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Fisheries Biological Disease Control Act'

(Photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The aquatic quarantine and inspection tasks, which were previously handled separately by the National Institute of Fisheries Science and the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service, will be unified under the Fishery Products Quality Management Service. This aims to block the domestic inflow of diseases occurring overseas and to establish measures to prevent their occurrence and spread domestically.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 12th that it will publicly notify the amendment to the subordinate legislation of the Aquatic Animal Disease Control Act, which transfers the aquatic animal quarantine duties handled by the Fisheries Science Institute to the Fishery Products Quality Management Service, until June 22.

An official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries stated, "Recently, new aquatic animal infectious diseases causing significant damage to farmed aquatic products and aquatic ecosystems, mainly in China and Thailand, have emerged, necessitating the strengthening of national-level management and response capabilities to prevent these infectious diseases from entering the country. Therefore, by unifying the quarantine and quarantine functions for aquatic animal diseases, we plan to consistently implement measures that block the inflow from overseas at the quarantine stage when new aquatic animal diseases occur abroad, while promptly preparing domestic quarantine measures."

The detailed contents of this amendment can be found on the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries website. Individuals or organizations with opinions can submit them to the Ministry’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy Division or the Integrated Legislative Notification Center by the 22nd of next month.

After the public notice period ends, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to complete the amendment by August this year through consultations with related ministries and the Cabinet meeting, and establish an integrated aquatic animal disease management system that oversees quarantine and inspection functions through organizational revisions.

Myeong No-heon, head of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy Division at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "Integrating the quarantine and inspection functions for aquatic animal diseases is to strengthen the government's responsibility to protect the domestic aquaculture industry from overseas aquatic animal infectious diseases. Through this, we expect the aquatic animal infectious disease management system to be thoroughly established and the management functions to be further advanced."

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