134 Additional Marine Species Requiring Approval for Export Abroad

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Revises 'Designation Notice for Marine and Fisheries Biological Resources Subject to Overseas Export Approval'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 20th that it will designate 1,475 species that must obtain prior approval before exporting marine organisms inhabiting Korea overseas, and will officially notify this on the 21st.

In October 2014, the Nagoya Protocol, which restricts access to foreign genetic resources and mandates sharing benefits arising from resource utilization with the resource-providing countries, came into effect. Accordingly, under the recognition that marine and fisheries genetic resources are national assets, many countries are competitively securing resources, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is also striving to systematically secure and manage marine and fisheries genetic resources.

As part of these efforts, the Ministry first designated 1,127 species subject to overseas export approval in 2017 under the "Act on the Securement, Management, and Use of Marine and Fisheries Genetic Resources" to prevent indiscriminate overseas export of Korea’s marine and fisheries genetic resources. Since then, the "Notification on Designation of Marine and Fisheries Genetic Resources Subject to Overseas Export Approval" has been revised annually to reflect new research results and correct errors. Last year, 290 species were newly designated and 68 species were excluded, increasing the total to 1,349 species.

This year’s notification added 134 species evaluated as grade 1 or 2 resources with high economic, academic, and ecological value through the "Marine and Fisheries Genetic Resources Grading System" implemented since last year. Additionally, 8 species were deleted due to 6 species having taxonomic errors and 2 species being redundantly managed under other laws. Furthermore, 123 species had their scientific or Korean names revised to reflect recent research findings. As a result, the number of marine and fisheries genetic resources subject to overseas export approval has increased to 1,475 species.

According to Article 40 of the Act on the Securement, Management, and Use of Marine and Fisheries Genetic Resources, anyone who exports marine and fisheries genetic resources overseas without approval shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million won, and the resources exported without approval shall be confiscated.

Kim In-kyung, Director of the Marine and Fisheries Genetic Resources Division at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, stated, "We plan to continuously manage resources evaluated as having high conservation value by designating them as species subject to overseas export approval through the grading system for marine and fisheries genetic resources. We will actively promote related policies to prevent the indiscriminate overseas export of our precious national marine and fisheries genetic resources."

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