Assemblyman Yoon Jae-gap Urges Establishment of 'Rural Fisheries Promotion Agency' to Revitalize Fisheries and Fishing Villages Facing Extinction Risk

84.2% of All Fishing Villages to Disappear by 2045

Fishing Industry and Villages Facing Extinction: Another Self-Portrait in the "Ojingeo Game"

Radical Organizational Reform Needed to Prevent the Disappearance of Fishing Industry and Villages

Democratic Party of Korea National Assembly member Yoon Jae-gap (Haenam·Wando·Jindo) ⓒ Asia Economy

[Haenam＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] Yoon Jae-gap, a member of the National Assembly from the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee (Democratic Party, Haenam·Wando·Jindo), urged the establishment of the "Fishery Village Promotion Agency" at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries comprehensive audit to revitalize fisheries and fishing villages facing extinction.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries classified 58% of fishing village areas as at risk of extinction in the "3rd Basic Plan for Fishing Village and Fishing Port Development (2020?2024)" and stated that 84.2% of all fishing villages are at risk of extinction by 2045.

The aging rate in fishing villages increased by 16 percentage points from 23.1% in 2010 to 39.2% in 2019. Conversely, the population under 50 years old, which accounted for 42% of the total, decreased by 17 percentage points to 25% in just 10 years.

The bigger problem is that the extinction of fisheries is approaching faster than the extinction of fishing villages.

Between 2014 and 2018, the population in fishing village areas (492 eup, myeon, dong) decreased by an average of 0.06% annually, but the fishing household population decreased by an average of 4.6% annually, indicating that the phenomenon of "leaving fisheries rather than leaving fishing villages" is a more serious issue.

Accordingly, although the government has been investing hundreds of millions of won annually to attract new fishers, the number has decreased every year since 2015, when it peaked at 1,073, falling to only 959 in 2019.

Therefore, it is pointed out that the current methods cannot prevent the extinction of fisheries and fishing villages, and that the distribution of high-quality seeds and the guidance and education projects for new fishing gear and methods, which are currently managed separately by each fishing cooperative, local governments, and related organizations such as the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, need to be managed more effectively through the establishment of a Fishery Village Promotion Agency.

Assemblyman Yoon Jae-gap said, "A Fishery Village Promotion Agency is necessary to prevent the extinction of fisheries and fishing villages," and proposed to the government, "If establishing the Fishery Village Promotion Agency is difficult due to amendments to the Government Organization Act, at least establish a '(tentative name) Fishery Village Promotion Task Force' that can oversee fishery and fishing village policies by unifying similar tasks of scattered public institutions."

Haenam=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun kh0424@asiae.co.kr