Muan-gun Makes All-Out Efforts to Restore Representative Seafood Resource, Nakji

Promotion of Octopus Ranching Project Releasing Mated Female Octopuses

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Oh Hwan-joo] Muan County in Jeonnam is actively working on resource recovery to continue the reputation of Muan octopus, a representative local seafood.

Octopus is a representative high-protein, low-calorie health food that contains a large amount of taurine, which is good for fatigue recovery, and is used in various dishes such as Tangtangi, Yeonpotang, and Nakji-bokkeum, making it a favorite seafood for people of all ages.

In particular, Muan’s clean tidal flat octopus, which has established itself as a representative high value-added fish species in the region, is evaluated as the best in the country.

However, due to indiscriminate overfishing and changes in the marine environment, the resources have rapidly decreased, making countermeasures urgent.

Therefore, the county is making efforts to recover octopus resources in various ways, including protected water operation, octopus ranching projects, and spawning and habitat creation projects, together with fishermen.

Since 2007, the county has designated and operated protected waters totaling 200 hectares in four locations for three months from the 1st of last month to the 30th of next month, aligned with the spawning season, to promote the natural reproduction of octopus.

Since 2017, the county has been actively increasing the number of octopus individuals by investing a total annual project cost of 100 million won to release mated mother octopuses through the octopus ranching project.

Accordingly, the county selected three fishing villages wishing to participate in the project, released mated octopuses in designated fishing rights areas, and allowed the fishing villages to directly protect and manage them, creating an environment where young octopuses can hatch.

This year, octopus ranches will be established in three locations: Bokgil, Wondong, and Gaip fishing villages, and 6,600 mated male and female octopuses will be released in accordance with the closed season (June 21 to July 20).

Additionally, the county was selected for the 2020 octopus spawning and habitat creation project, securing a total project cost of 4 billion won (2 billion won national funds, 2 billion won county funds), and is promoting the octopus resource recovery project in the Tando Bay area for five years from 2021 to 2025.

The project is entrusted to the Korea Fisheries Resources Agency, a specialized institution, and plans to systematically create octopus resources through the establishment of four octopus spawning grounds, release of mother octopuses, and release of prey organisms (Chilge crabs).

In the first half of this year, 2,000 mated octopuses will be released in artificial spawning grounds and 14,000 mother octopuses in protected waters to secure young octopus resources through spawning during the closed season. After release, changes in resource quantities will be monitored to analyze project effects and secure data necessary for resource creation.

Thanks to these efforts, the catch, which had decreased to 88,000 units in August 2019, showed an increasing trend to 120,000 units in 2021, indicating that the octopus resource creation project has achieved some results. It is expected that the recovery of octopus resources will accelerate further as the project continues.

County Governor Kim San said, “Octopus cannot be farmed and is greatly affected by environmental factors such as temperature and water pollution, so artificial resource creation has its limits,” and added, “Fishermen themselves need to actively refrain from indiscriminate overfishing and comply with the closed season to recover resources.”

Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Oh Hwan-joo

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