Gangwon Councilor Jae-Seok Choi: "East Coast Departure Times and Fishing Zones Must Be Adjusted"

Fishermen in Southern Gangwon Propose Earlier Winter Departure Times
Request to Move Up Fishing Boat Departures from 4 a.m. to 3 a.m.
Calls for Policy Change Citing Safety and Fairness Concerns

Jae-seok Choi, Gangwon Province Council Member.

Fishermen in the southern region of Gangwon Province have proposed moving up the permitted departure time for fishing boats from 4 a.m. to 3 a.m., one hour earlier.

At a meeting co-hosted by Gangwon Province Councilor Jae-Seok Choi (Donghae 1) and the Donghae Fisheries Cooperative, fishermen argued that restricting departure times to 4 a.m. across the province during winter not only puts them at a disadvantage in securing catches but also raises safety concerns, and they called for changes to the policy.

The fishermen pointed out that North Gyeongsang Province has already lifted departure time restrictions since 2022, and Gyeonggi Province has also lifted controls south of 36.8 kilometers from the Military Demarcation Line. They argued that it is unreasonable for Gangwon Province to control entry and exit times along its entire 147-kilometer coastline solely for security reasons.

Accordingly, they proposed that at least the southern coastal areas of the province, such as Donghae and Samcheok, should have the winter departure time moved up.

The fishermen also requested that the operating zones for coastal pole-and-line fishing boats be adjusted from the current limit of 1 mile offshore to 0.6 miles offshore, in line with the frequency of fish migration.

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