Nodongjin, President of Suhyup, "Expanding Cooperative Support to 300 Billion Won Range"

Announces Management Goals at Press Conference Marking First Anniversary of Inauguration

On the 26th, Labor Jin, Chairman of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, announced that he plans to expand the scale of support funds to around 300 billion KRW within the remaining three years of his term to create a definite change in the management improvement of the fisheries cooperatives. Despite the sharp decline in catch volume due to climate change such as rising water temperatures, he also indicated that the imbalance caused by excessive fishing vessel forces should be corrected through high-intensity restructuring that reduces the number of fishing vessels.

On the occasion of his first anniversary in office, Chairman Noh explained his management plan and measures to address fisheries issues at a press briefing held in Sejong City. He emphasized that he will maintain the policies of ‘seafood consumption’ and ‘support for member cooperatives’ until the end of his term, following last year’s approach.

Regarding last year’s discharge of contaminated water from Japan, Chairman Noh said, “Trust has been greatly stabilized through thorough seafood safety management, which has significantly calmed consumer sentiment,” and added, “We will accelerate the promotion of domestic consumption, which has seen little progress compared to seafood exports, to lead to increased income for fishermen.”

He also stated that for cooperatives whose profitability deteriorated last year due to high interest rates and a slump in the real estate market, “We will urgently inject 180 billion KRW in support funds by the end of this month,” and “Since capital expansion is necessary for definite management improvement, we will expand this scale to around 300 billion KRW.”

Chairman Noh mentioned the rapid increase in electricity rates for land-based aquaculture farms and the depletion of fishery resources caused by climate change. He said, “Land-based aquaculture farms use a large amount of electricity to pump seawater, but the recent sharp increase in electricity rates has increased management costs and greatly worsened production conditions,” and added, “The current policy of uniformly raising the same amount contradicts the purpose of the differentiated rate system by usage established to promote agriculture and fisheries.”

He pointed out that since electricity rates have been raised as a fixed amount since 2022, the increase rate for the fisheries industry, which uses agricultural electricity with relatively low unit prices, has risen sharply to nearly 90%.

Chairman Noh diagnosed that the 95% sharp decline in squid production in the East Sea (4,279 tons) compared to ten years ago, which has put squid fishing vessels in a livelihood crisis, is due to an imbalance caused by limited resources but excessive fishing vessel forces trying to catch them.

He emphasized, “When fishing vessels are removed, the government currently provides closure support funds equivalent to three years of average annual income, but this compensation is too low to even repay debts, resulting in low participation from fishermen,” and added, “To elicit fishermen’s response and participation, it is necessary to raise the compensation standards, reduce taxation on support funds, and prepare exit strategies such as livelihood maintenance measures.”

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