Major Overhaul of Fisheries Regulations... Party and Government "Introducing 'Total Allowable Catch' for All Fishing Vessels by 2027"

"Promotion of Allowing Scuba Fishing"
Fishing-Related Regulations Reduced to Less Than Half

On the 2nd, the ruling party and the government agreed to shift fishery regulations to a total allowable catch (TAC)-centered management system to improve fishing operation efficiency.

The People Power Party and the government held a public-party-government council at the National Assembly that day to advance fisheries and announced the direction of fishery regulation reform. Park Dae-chul, the policy chief of the People Power Party, stated, "We will boldly eliminate unnecessary regulations to enhance the convenience and safety of fishermen," adding, "More than half of the 1,500 regulations applied to fishermen will be reduced. In particular, we decided to switch to TAC to improve fishing efficiency."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

TAC is a representative fishery resource management system that sets the annual allowable catch amount and permits fishing only within that limit.

Park said, "Once the TAC system is introduced for all fishing vessels, fishermen will be able to freely and autonomously trade within the total catch limit allocated per vessel without restrictions such as closed seasons," adding, "We expect autonomy and efficiency to be greatly improved."

He introduced, "The scope of open precision inspections currently applied to vessels under 5 tons will be expanded to all vessels under 10 tons annually, and the size of political fishing management vessels will be increased from 8 tons to 25 tons." He continued, "Through amendments to the Fisheries Act, we will also promote allowing scuba fishing to efficiently harvest marine products within village fishing grounds."

Park said, "The ruling party and government shared the recognition that establishing a monitoring system aligned with global standards will strengthen trade negotiation capabilities and secure export competitiveness," adding, "We agreed to create a sound market by building a catch certification system through thorough monitoring of the entire fishing process and distributing only legally caught marine products." He also mentioned, "The plan includes transparently managing vessel locations, catch reports, and position confirmations through devices installed on fishing vessels to monitor real-time fishing conditions," adding, "By providing accurate catch locations and times, our citizens will be able to consume marine products whose entire history from production to consumption is managed, and it is expected to alleviate vague concerns caused by the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima, Japan."

Cho Seung-hwan, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, explained regarding the council's content, "Once TAC is set, the amount of each species that can be caught by each vessel will be reported continuously through a monitoring system, including when and where the catch was made," adding, "This naturally means that the fishery product traceability system can be further expanded and supplemented."

Regarding future reforms, he said, "We will continue to manage the pace through short-term preparations and long-term forms," and added that the process will be completed by 2027.

Attendees of the council included Policy Chief Park, Minister Cho, lawmakers Song Seok-jun and Hong Moon-pyo, Labor Jin, chairman of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, Professor Kim Do-hoon of Pukyong National University, and young fisherman Kim In-bok.

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