"Autonomous Fisheries Communities to Have Selection Canceled if Evaluation Performance is Poor for Two Consecutive Years"

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Announces Administrative Notice on Partial Amendment (Draft) of 'Regulations on Autonomous Fishery Management'

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 20th that it will conduct an administrative notice to collect opinions until August 3rd by preparing a partial amendment to the 'Regulations on the Management of Self-Managed Fisheries' to enhance the substance of self-managed fishery management.

This amendment was prepared to reflect the existing self-managed fishery management regulations in accordance with the enforcement of the 'Act on the Promotion and Support of Self-Managed Fisheries' enacted on February 18 of this year (effective February 19, 2021) and to promote the qualitative growth of self-managed fishery communities.

Accordingly, the minimum number of members for each type of self-managed fishery community will be significantly expanded to improve the effectiveness of community operation and resource management. Until now, the minimum number of members was low, allowing communities to be easily formed without substantial resource management activities taking place. Therefore, the minimum number of members has been significantly increased from the previous 5 to 15 or more to 10 to 30 to ensure that communities are composed of members genuinely committed to resource management.

Additionally, a mandatory clause has been introduced that requires cancellation of selection for communities scoring less than 10% (100 points out of 1000) in evaluations for two consecutive years. Previously, there was only a provision allowing cancellation if the evaluation score was below 50% for two years, but the amendment includes a mandatory regulation to cancel communities with evaluation scores below 10% that show no willingness to participate. Furthermore, the amendment changes the rule so that selection can be canceled if a community has been penalized even once for improper receipt of project funds, whereas before cancellation was only possible after two or more penalties.

Along with this, the scope of items eligible for the use of development project funds has been expanded and specified to provide equipment and facilities for the safety of fishers participating in self-management and for resource management. Previously, project funds were supported based on the evaluation of one year’s self-managed fishery activities, which led to issues where communities received funding after only one year of activity and then ceased resource management activities. After the amendment, project funds will be provided based on the average score over three years to ensure continuous self-managed fishery activities.

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