Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Next Year's Budget 6.4333 Trillion Won... Increased by 51.8 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 24th that the total expenditure budget for next year has been finalized at 6.4333 trillion KRW. This is an increase of 51.8 billion KRW compared to the initial government proposal (6.3814 trillion KRW).

The budget was allocated as follows: 2.9474 trillion KRW for fisheries and fishing villages (up 4.1%), 1.8852 trillion KRW for shipping and ports (down 7.1%), and 1.3779 trillion KRW for marine and environment (up 5.3%). The research and development (R&D) budget was assigned 882.4 billion KRW, a 7.1% increase compared to this year's budget (823.7 billion KRW).

A new budget of 1 billion KRW was allocated to support excellent fishing village associations to strengthen competitiveness in the fisheries sector and attract new fishing village manpower. A new service fee of 900 million KRW was also included to foster aquaculture products, which have a high production share, as future export strategic items. Support for the establishment of regional production and distribution infrastructure for aquaculture products was expanded by 3.8 billion KRW.

Regarding the industrialization of marine bio for fostering new industries, 310 million KRW of the total 30 billion KRW for the construction of the ‘Marine Bio Medical Healthcare Research and Development Center’ was newly allocated for design costs.

For responding to marine leisure safety accidents, 750 million KRW was newly allocated for the design costs of the Marine Leisure Safety Experience Center, and 550 million KRW for safety facility reinforcement on fishery patrol vessels. In preparation for the possible discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, 1 billion KRW was newly allocated for monitoring surveys (R&D) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, and 600 million KRW for a full investigation of radioactive contamination in ballast water injected near Fukushima.

For expanding domestic blue carbon support, 1 billion KRW was newly allocated for the design costs of the ‘Blue Carbon Demonstration Support Center,’ and 2 billion KRW for the design costs of the World Natural Heritage Tidal Flat Conservation Headquarters.

[Image source=Yonhap News]