Sancheong-gun Leads in Preserving Local Dialects... Releases 100,000 Juvenile Eels

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Sancheong-gun is releasing juvenile Korean grayling fish.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam, will take the lead in preserving native fish species such as Korean aucha perch (Ssogari), freshwater snails (Daseulgi), soft-shelled turtles (Jara), and crucian carp (Bungeo) this year, starting with the release of sweetfish (Euneo) fry.

On the 11th, the county announced that it released 100,000 sweetfish fry into the Gyeonghogang and Deokcheongang rivers.

This release project was carried out to contribute to the increase of inland water fishery resources, the income growth of farmers and fishermen, and the development of tourism resources, with sweetfish provided by the Gyeongnam Fisheries Resources Research Institute.

Sweetfish, a representative freshwater fish of Sancheong, is an anadromous species whose hatched fry spend the winter in the sea or dams and then swim upstream again in April to May of the following year.

They mainly inhabit places like the Gyeonghogang River, where the current is fast and the riverbed is rocky with abundant algae, growing up to 30 cm in length.

Because they feed on algae, they have a distinctive watermelon-like pattern, and during the Joseon Dynasty, they were renowned as the best-tasting freshwater fish and were even presented to the king.

The county is making various efforts to preserve and restore the river ecosystem, including continuous fry release projects, fishway repair projects, artificial spawning ground creation projects, and river pollution source management projects.

Last year, in addition to releasing 6 million sweetfish fertilized eggs, the county released 147,000 sweetfish fry, about 43,000 Ssogari fry, 7,320 young soft-shelled turtles, 4,000 eel fry, and 1.45 million freshwater snail juveniles, among other native fish species.

Thanks to these efforts, the Gyeonghogang River is known nationwide as the largest habitat for sweetfish and a "mecca of freshwater fishing."

Choi Kyung-sul, director of the Agricultural Technology Center, said, “Our county is conducting various native fish fry release projects, including sweetfish, Ssogari, freshwater snails, and crucian carp, to continuously restore the inland water ecosystem. We will continue to contribute to increasing local residents' income and revitalizing the regional economy through diverse native fish restoration projects.”

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