Protecting the Lungs of the Sea! ... Gijang-gun Selected for Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries R&D National Fund Project

Gijang County Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Gijang-gun Seaweed Breeding Convergence Research Center has been finally selected as a joint researcher with the Pohang Institute of Industrial Science and Technology for this year's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries R&D national project, the "Development Project of Marine Artificial Structures Using Ceramic-based Convergence Materials to Increase Blue Carbon."

The project was promoted with the goal of developing eco-friendly and high-functional hybrid marine artificial structures (artificial reefs) to realize carbon neutrality policies, as the importance of blue carbon (carbon absorbed and stored by marine plants) in the marine and fisheries sector has increased following the government's 2050 carbon neutrality declaration.

This is a long-term project with a budget of approximately 9.7 billion KRW from this year until 2025.

At the Gijang Seaweed Research Center, indoor experiments on seaweed attachment effects on artificial reefs at the development stage and various seaweed transplantation experiments suitable for coastal characteristics, as well as field verification research, will be conducted.

Recently, due to environmental pollution, climate change, and excessive coastal development, large seaweeds inhabiting coastal rocky areas are disappearing, and non-calcified algae such as cement-like algae are covering the rocks, rapidly spreading the phenomenon of "Gaetnogeum" (white discoloration), which is desertification of the sea.

Accordingly, the seaweed artificial reefs developed through this project are expected to maintain a healthy coastal ecosystem by protecting habitats of aquatic organisms, purifying pollutants, and reducing greenhouse gases.

A representative of the Gijang Seaweed Research Center said, "About 40% of the Gijang coastal waters are undergoing Gaetnogeum due to climate change," and added, "We will do our best in developing marine artificial structures and researching seaweed composition to help restore the coastal marine ecosystem through this project."

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