Salmon Farming Hatch Rate 97.5%... Mass Production After One Year of Freshwater Farming
About 1 Trillion Won Investment by 2035, 200,000 Tons Production and Employment of Over 25,000 People
[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-chul] Gangwon Province is expected to emerge as a future core industry by starting the first Atlantic salmon farming in Korea.
The Gangwon Province East Sea Headquarters announced on the 10th, "At the Inland Water Resources Center last October, 97.5% of 50,000 Atlantic salmon fertilized eggs successfully hatched, and 48,750 juvenile salmon (length 2.9cm, weight 0.4g) were transferred to tanks to begin aquaculture production."
The Inland Water Resources Center analyzed that the high hatching rate of the first fertilized eggs was due to the accumulated salmon farming technology over the past five years and the creation of an optimal breeding environment for fertilized eggs (water temperature 8℃, etc.) by introducing an eco-friendly recirculating filtration aquaculture system.
The center plans to develop a mass production aquaculture method in freshwater while raising the juvenile salmon in tanks to 'smolt' (a phenomenon where juvenile salmon living in freshwater change to a silvery color when migrating to the sea) at a length of 30cm and weight of 150g, then transfer them to the Hanhaeseong Fisheries Resources Center in Goseong to produce large fish weighing 5kg in seawater.
The Inland Water Resources Center and Hanhaeseong Fisheries Resources Center will also promote research on smart aquaculture technology development until the establishment of the Gangwon Province Testbed Research Center ('22~'24).
From next year until 2024, the Inland Water Resources Center will conduct research on 'Development of an ICT-based Atlantic salmon freshwater aquaculture model' with a total project cost of 48 billion KRW (8.4 billion KRW national funds, 39.6 billion KRW provincial funds).
During the same period, the Hanhaeseong Fisheries Resources Center will invest a total of 341 million KRW (170.5 million KRW national funds, 170.5 million KRW provincial funds) to conduct research on 'Installation of seawater recirculating filtration aquaculture facilities and development of a dedicated smart aquaculture platform for Atlantic salmon.'
Alongside the Atlantic salmon aquaculture research by the two institutions, Gangwon Province is promoting the 'East Coast Super-Regional Salmon Cluster Project,' investing a total of 1 trillion KRW by 2035.
By 2025, with a total project cost of 364 billion KRW, including the construction of a testbed (40 billion KRW), aquaculture industrial complex (200 billion KRW), disease prevention vaccine center (40 billion KRW), fish feed factory (38 billion KRW), and seafood processing cluster (46 billion KRW), the salmon aquaculture industry ecosystem will be established.
In the second phase ('26~'30), four additional salmon aquaculture industrial complexes will be established in the East Coast area including Goseong to achieve salmon production of 100,000 tons.
The third phase ('31~'35) involves large-scale 'marine plant construction' to fulfill global salmon market commitments and enter the top three salmon-producing countries, as well as the creation of the 'Korean Peninsula Salmon Aquaculture Belt' connecting the DMZ-Wonsan-Hamhung-Tianjin-Najin.
Through this, the plan is to produce 200,000 tons of salmon, generate an economic effect of 4.3 trillion KRW, and create about 25,000 jobs.
Kim Tae-hoon, head of the Gangwon Province East Sea Headquarters, said, "As salmon farming is being promoted as a future core industry of Gangwon Province, we will proceed successfully through thorough preparation and collaboration with various specialized institutions."
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