Busan City Breaks Ground on 'Smart Aquaculture Cluster' at Gijang Coast

Realizing Marine and New Industry Convergence: Establishing a Marine Fisheries Economic Innovation Foundation
Groundbreaking on the 16th, Testbed by August Next Year, Completion by August 2022
Increase in High-Income Fish Species Production, Expansi

A bird's-eye view of the Smart Aquaculture Cluster to be developed in Gijang-gun, Busan.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The "Smart Aquaculture Cluster Construction Project" aimed at developing high-income fish farming technology and increasing productivity will commence on the 16th.

The "Smart Aquaculture Cluster," promoted by Busan City, is a project to establish a smart aquaculture testbed and supporting infrastructure that are automated and intelligent by utilizing Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data.

Busan City was finally selected in January 2019 through a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries public contest and established the basic plan in February 2020. From February to November this year, the basic and detailed designs, as well as consultations related to disasters, environment, and cultural assets, were completed, and construction begins today.

In August 2021, the design of the testbed (building) was completed, and the entire civil engineering and construction work is planned to be finished by August 2022.

Busan City will invest a total of 40 billion KRW (22 billion KRW from the national government, 12 billion KRW from the city, and 6 billion KRW self-funded) to establish the first phase of the Smart Aquaculture Cluster.

The location is inside the Pukyong National University Fisheries Science Research Institute in Ilgwang-myeon, Gijang-gun. The site area is 67,320㎡, and a building with a total floor area of 10,000㎡ will be constructed. Additionally, infrastructure such as ICT and IoT-integrated recirculating filtration facilities, a big data center, seawater and freshwater intake and drainage facilities, and roads will be developed on the supporting site.

Subsequently, in the second phase, the project will expand support for private companies to move into the supporting site, and in the third phase, by 2025, a large-scale advanced fisheries complex industrial park integrating production, distribution, processing, export, and tourism will be completed.

Byun Sung-wan, Acting Mayor of Busan, stated, "The role of the Smart Aquaculture Cluster is very important in responding to economic and social structural changes in the post-COVID-19 era and transforming the industry’s constitution through ICT convergence and eco-friendliness." He added, "We will lead innovation in the aquaculture industry by increasing productivity of high-income fish species and developing technology, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of future high value-added industries."

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