Gyeonggi-do to Manage Marine Areas Divided into 8 Zones

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will divide the marine space of Gyeonggi into a total of 8 zones for management.

On the 30th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it plans to designate 936.29㎢ of the Gyeonggi Bay territorial waters as marine use zones to systematically manage each zone, such as fishery activity protection areas and port/navigation areas.

Earlier, Gyeonggi Province, in cooperation with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, divided Gyeonggi Bay into a total of 8 use zones considering the characteristics of the marine space: ▲ fishery activity protection areas such as seaweed farms (54.48%) ▲ Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port port/navigation areas (29.36%) ▲ safety management areas (27.00%) ▲ environmental and ecosystem management areas such as wetlands and cultural heritage protection areas (5.21%) ▲ marine tourism areas such as Jebu Marina and beaches (1.07%) ▲ energy development areas near the Sihwa Lake tidal power plant (0.90%) ▲ research and education conservation areas (0.45%) ▲ aggregate and mineral resource development areas (0.16%).

Until now, the government has operated our seas based on individual laws and regulations without systematic and comprehensive analysis of marine spaces. As a result, conflicts have arisen between use and conservation activities, and since plans remained individual and fragmented, marine spaces have deteriorated into areas of preemptive use, indiscriminate development, and conflicts among stakeholders.

To resolve these issues, the government adopted "Integrated Marine Spatial Management and Planned Use System Establishment" as a national agenda and has been promoting the establishment of zonal marine spatial management plans based on the "Marine Spatial Planning and Management Act," enacted in April 2018, which forms the foundation of integrated marine spatial management.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the province extensively collected and analyzed regional marine spatial information and issues, then prepared a draft marine spatial management plan including marine use zones, considering marine spatial characteristic evaluations, related laws and systems, and demands for marine use, development, and conservation.

The province then finalized the plan after hearing opinions from experts, stakeholders, and local residents, holding public hearings, consulting related ministries, and undergoing review by the Marine Fisheries Development Committee.

The current status, maps, and explanatory documents of the marine use zones in Gyeonggi marine space can be checked from today on the websites of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and Gyeonggi Province.

Andong-gwang, Director of the Provincial Agricultural and Marine Policy Bureau, said, "We have established the first statutory plan that shows the sea of Gyeonggi Province at a glance," and promised, "We will responsibly promote all marine policies, which had remained at the provincial and city/county levels, as a statutory plan within the marine spatial management plan."

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