Jindo-gun Wins Maritime Territory Dispute in Maro Waters

Maro Waters Are Jindo Fishing Grounds... Remove Haenam Facilities
Jindo County Fisheries Cooperative Wins First Trial in Lawsuit Over Transfer of Seaweed Farming Grounds

Jindo County won the maritime territorial dispute in the Maro area. (Photo by Jindo County)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] The court has ruled in favor of Jindo County in the conflict between Jindo and Haenam counties over the golden fishing grounds in the Maro waters.

The Civil Division of the Haenam Branch of Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Jae-geun) on the 10th ordered Haenam County to hand over the fishing grounds to Jindo County and dismantle the facilities in a lawsuit regarding the fulfillment of the Maro waters event contract procedures and the delivery of the fishing grounds.

The main issue in this lawsuit was whether Haenam County had permanent use of the Maro waters license area for seaweed farming.

The court ruled that during the 2011 court mediation, Haenam fishermen had only received a temporary license extension for the Maro waters, and it was not permanent use.

The dispute between fishermen of Jindo County and Haenam County over the 'Maro waters' fishing rights, the largest seaweed farming ground in the nation spanning 1,370 hectares between Jindo and Haenam counties, began in the early 1980s.

As Haenam fishermen crossed into Jindo waters in the Maro area to farm seaweed and earned high incomes, Jindo fishermen also competitively entered seaweed farming, leading to conflicts.

Eventually, through court mediation in 2011, it was agreed that Haenam County would exercise the rights to the 1,370-hectare Maro seaweed farm until 2020, and in return, Jindo County would develop a new seaweed farm of the same size, 1,370 hectares.

Time passed, and the 10-year conditional agreement expired on June 7 of last year.

Before the expiration, the Jindo County Fisheries Cooperative notified the termination of the fishing rights and demanded the return of the fishing grounds from Haenam County, while fishermen in Haenam filed a lawsuit to enforce the fishing rights contract procedures to continue farming.

Even as court mediation hearings continued, fishermen from both sides held large-scale protests last year and clashed at sea, maintaining their confrontation.

A representative from the Jindo County Fisheries Support Division stated, “As the first trial ruling confirmed that the Maro waters are fishing rights exercised by Jindo fishermen in Jindo waters, we plan to provide administrative support so that Jindo fishermen can start seaweed farming there as soon as possible. Depending on whether an appeal is filed, we will prepare joint countermeasures with the Jindo County Fisheries Cooperative and fishermen and respond legally.”

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