Jeonnam Province Prepares Comprehensive Measures for Red Tide and High Water Temperature

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeollanam-do announced on the 8th that it held the ‘Provincial Red Tide Countermeasures Committee’ and prepared the ‘2021 Comprehensive Measures for Red Tide and High Water Temperature,’ entering full-scale implementation.

This measure was promoted to minimize fisheries damage caused by red tide and high water temperature, unwelcome guests along the coast during summer.

Sixteen people, including related organizations and experts on red tide, and aquaculture fishermen, attended the committee.

They discussed thorough preparations such as inspection of support and control equipment for red tide and high water temperature response, on-site meetings, expansion of surveillance and forecasting infrastructure, and minimizing damage through joint civil-government field response.

Domestic and international research institutions, including the National Institute of Fisheries Science, predicted that coastal water temperatures in Korea would be 0.5 to 1 degree higher than average due to the strengthening of the Tsushima Warm Current.

Accordingly, high water temperature is expected to start around mid-July, about a month earlier than last year, and a red tide advisory is expected to be issued by the end of July. If high water temperature and red tide occur simultaneously like this, significant damage is expected in the dense aquaculture areas of Jeonnam.

In preparation for this, Jeonnam Province decided to promote five key strategies: ▲establishing a preemptive response system ▲expanding surveillance and forecasting infrastructure ▲joint civil-government field response ▲collaboration with related organizations for damage prevention ▲rapid damage recovery and support for management stabilization.

Wi Gwanghwan, Director of the Marine Fisheries Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, “Since the fisheries economy is already depressed due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, we will thoroughly prepare by uniting civil, government, and police to prevent red tide and high water temperature from hitting us.” He added, “We ask fishermen to actively participate in the ‘Self-Aquaculture Area Protection Movement’ and the large-scale simultaneous control operations when red tide and high water temperature occur.”

Meanwhile, last year in Jeonnam, high water temperature started in August in the inner Wando and Deukryang Bay areas, and toxic red tide occurred for 31 days from October to November, but due to rapid initial response and concentrated control, not a single case of damage occurred.

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