One Million Young Fish Released into the Sea of Busan Gijang

Gijang-gun to Invest 3.6 Billion Won by 2022 ... Creation of Spawning Habitats for Marine Resources

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] One million juvenile Maljwichi fish were released into the sea off the coast of Gijang-gun, Busan. These Maljwichi will later return as abundant marine resources for fishermen.

On the morning of the 17th, Gijang-gun announced that it held the '2020 Marine Resource Release Commemoration Event' at the reclamation site near Gilcheon, Jangan-eup, with about 70 participants including producer groups, and released a total of one million juvenile Maljwichi and other fish into the coastal waters of Gijang.

The event was organized by the Large Trawling Fisheries Cooperative, a fishing producer organization. The marine resource release event, participated in by Gijang-gun and the Korea Marine Resources Corporation, has been promoted since March 2018 as part of the 'Creating a Prosperous Our Sea' agreement signed among Gijang-gun, Korea Marine Resources Corporation, and the Large Trawling Fisheries Cooperative, in connection with the marine resource spawning habitat creation project.

This year's event was conducted on a smaller scale than last year and followed quarantine guidelines due to COVID-19.

The marine resource spawning habitat creation project is designed to improve the habitat environment considering the physiological and ecological characteristics of Maljwichi. It is a project to establish a sustainable supply base for marine resources through natural resource recovery. Gijang-gun plans to invest a total of 3.6 billion KRW in national and military funds by 2022. The goal is to develop the Gijang coastal waters into a golden fishing ground belt.

To create the marine resource spawning habitat, Gijang-gun has invested 1 billion KRW in national and military funds over the past two years, releasing about 2.3 million Maljwichi juveniles and approximately 135 million fertilized eggs. Additionally, a 6-hectare seaweed farm was established by transplanting seaweeds such as mozaban and gamtae to improve the spawning habitat environment.

In the third year of the project, a total of 600 million KRW will be invested to release Maljwichi juveniles and fertilized eggs and to install spawning habitat infrastructure on the seabed.

The scale of juveniles released on this day was about one million Maljwichi and others, with a total investment of 250 million KRW, including 200 million KRW from national and military funds and 50 million KRW from the Large Trawling Fisheries Cooperative budget. To reduce the gathering of participants, both land-based releases through connected pipes and sea releases were conducted simultaneously.

Furthermore, an artificial hatching release system will be installed in the Mundong sea area to hatch and release more than 70 million Maljwichi fertilized eggs. This will truly make the Gijang coastal area a golden fishing ground.

The Korea Marine Seed Industry Gyeongnam Association, sharing the intention to secure marine resources, contributed 210,000 juvenile fish and six popular species for exhibition, including black porgy, rockfish, and stone flounder, free of charge.

Maljwichi, distributed along all coasts of Korea, is known as a natural predator of jellyfish, which are the main cause of damage to fishing gear and nets. It is a popular fish species prized for its chewy texture and is the main ingredient of the commonly enjoyed dried fish snack called jupo. Although it was once a commonly seen species, its population has sharply declined due to indiscriminate overfishing and environmental changes, and currently, a large quantity is imported.

A Gijang-gun official stated, “Since restoring marine resources requires considerable time, we will communicate with fishermen and not only focus on releasing fish but also put effort into post-release management to cultivate a prosperous sea.”

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