The Symbolic 'City Fish' of the Marine Culture City Pohang... Selected as 'Cheong-eo' (Herring)

Designated as Pohang City Fish Considering Citizen Preference, Historic Significance, and Symbolic Meaning: 'Cheong-eo'

Development of Cheong-eo Character and Promotion Marketing to Drive Local Economic Revitalization

The herring has been selected as the ‘Si-eo (City Fish)’, the fish symbolizing the marine culture city of Pohang.

Herring selected as the city fish of Pohang.

On the 11th, Pohang City Council approved the amendment to the ‘Ordinance on Pohang City Symbols’ and added Si-eo as a symbol representing Pohang.

This is the first time in about 30 years that a new symbol has been designated for Pohang since the seagull (city bird), rose (city flower), and pine tree (city tree) were designated as Pohang’s symbols in 1995.

To further develop the identity of Pohang as a marine culture city, Pohang decided to add a symbol that fits the city’s image and conducted a research project on designating a representative marine symbol of Pohang from March for about two months.

In a citizen survey on fish species representing Pohang, herring overwhelmingly ranked first (46.7%), beating octopus, sunfish, and yellowtail. Regarding the criteria for selecting Si-eo, 42.9% answered that the species should be closely related to Pohang’s history and allow for storytelling, ranking first.

Based on these research results, considering citizen preference, historical relevance to Pohang, and symbolic meaning comprehensively, Pohang City designated herring as Pohang’s Si-eo.

Pohang plans to establish its identity as a marine culture city by utilizing the herring designated as Si-eo and to revitalize the fishing village economy by linking related projects through promotional marketing.

A Pohang city official said, “We will contribute to revitalizing local tourism by developing a herring character and promoting various marketing activities using herring. We will take the lead in developing policies that can increase the utilization of Si-eo by actively linking it with various policies that will shape the future of Pohang, a representative marine tourism city of Korea.”

Yeongil Bay in Pohang has been a spawning ground for herring since ancient times. In the early to mid-1900s, with the deployment of modern fishing vessels, it handled 60 to 70% of the national herring distribution volume, making herring a major driving force for Pohang’s rise as a marine fisheries city. It is also the primary raw material for Gwamegi, Pohang’s representative specialty product, and a representative seafood product that embodies Pohang’s history and the sentiments of its citizens.

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