Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Confirms 78.4 Billion KRW in 3rd Supplementary Budget... Support for Fisheries Industry and Introduction of Eco-Friendly Public Vessels

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Government Sejong Complex. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 4th that the third supplementary budget proposal for 2020, aimed at supporting the fisheries industry affected by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and revitalizing the local economy, has been finalized at 78.4 billion KRW. This amount is 600 million KRW higher than the government's original proposal of 77.8 billion KRW.

Through this supplementary budget, the Ministry plans to promote the consumption of seafood and support export activation to assist the fisheries industry struggling to secure sales channels due to COVID-19.

First, to promote seafood consumption, support will be provided (21 billion KRW) for issuing 20% discount coupons usable at large supermarkets, online shopping malls, and traditional markets. The main discounted items will include freshwater aquaculture species facing shipment difficulties, species requiring early shipment support due to summer high temperatures and red tides, and ritual items in high demand during the Chuseok holiday period. Discounts will be available up to a maximum of 10,000 KRW per person.

Additionally, to revitalize seafood exports, which have been depressed by COVID-19, promotional expenses will be supported (5.1 billion KRW) to enable sales of Korean seafood through non-face-to-face distribution channels targeting major export countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand. Starting in August, various products from about 100 domestic seafood export companies will be sold through overseas online e-commerce websites and home shopping broadcasts. Since the e-commerce market is rapidly growing overseas due to COVID-19, it is expected that Korean exporters will achieve sales exceeding 1 million USD through this supplementary budget.

The Ministry is also actively promoting the introduction of eco-friendly government vessels as part of the core Green New Deal projects, in line with the 'Act on the Development and Promotion of Eco-friendly Ships' enforced since January 1 this year. The supplementary budget includes 3.1 billion KRW for the design costs of six vessels: two fishery guidance vessels, two patrol vessels, and two fisheries resource survey vessels.

All six government vessels included in the supplementary budget will be introduced as eco-friendly ships such as hybrids. The Ministry plans to complete the ship design announcement within this month and prepare the optimal design plan through expert consultations.

Separately from the introduction of eco-friendly government vessels, an additional 6 billion KRW has been allocated for the deep-sea fishing vessel safety fund to ensure the safety of deep-sea fishing vessels, and the additional replacement construction of two aging deep-sea fishing vessels will be pursued.

Furthermore, 38.2 billion KRW has been allocated for social overhead capital (SOC) projects to create safe ports against disasters such as typhoons. The projects funded include construction of the southern breakwater at Ulsan New Port (24 billion KRW), drainage channel maintenance at Gwangyang Port to prevent flooding (2 billion KRW), early restoration of typhoon damage at Busan Gamcheon Port (7.7 billion KRW), and reinforcement of the breakwater at Busan Oryukdo Port (4.5 billion KRW). These projects aim to improve aging infrastructure or reinforce breakwaters to ensure port safety in major port areas.

In addition, the National Assembly increased the budget by 600 million KRW to support the revitalization of fishing village experience and recreation villages struggling due to COVID-19. This project offers a 30% discount benefit (up to 30,000 KRW) to citizens using tourism products such as mudflat experiences, boat fishing, and lodging in fishing village experience and recreation villages.

A budget of 3.4 billion KRW was also allocated for building a database to enable non-face-to-face inspection systems for ship blueprints and joint use of marine and fisheries information, and 1 billion KRW was allocated to improve the environment of pollutant storage facilities installed at 13 trade ports.

A Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official stated, "We will ensure thorough execution and management so that support for the marine and fisheries industry, which is facing difficulties due to COVID-19, can be promptly provided through the projects included in this supplementary budget."

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