"Let's Meet Again in 3 Years!" ... Pohang City Releases 100,000 Young Salmon in Janggi Stream

100,000 Juvenile Salmon Embark on a 16,000 km Journey Across the North Pacific

Janggi-myeon Identified as Optimal Release Site for Estuarine Freshwater and Smart Aquaculture Cluster Project

Pohang City held a salmon release commemorative event on the 14th at Janggi Stream in Janggi-myeon, Nam-gu, in collaboration with the Gyeongbuk Freshwater Fish Research Center, releasing 100,000 juvenile salmon, a high value-added fish species.

Salmon fry released into Janggi Stream.

The event was attended by many marine and fisheries professionals, including Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il, Moon Seong-jun, Director of the Gyeongbuk Fisheries Resources Research Institute, and Seo Seok-young, a member of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly's Agriculture and Fisheries Committee, who released the young salmon and cheered for the strong start of their long journey.

Additionally, students from Janggi Elementary School participated, gaining an understanding of the value of fishery resources and ecosystems, and had the opportunity to observe live salmon firsthand, making it an educational experience.

The juvenile salmon released this time are high-quality fry produced directly by the Freshwater Fish Research Center, measuring 6 cm in length and weighing over 2 g.

On the 14th, Pohang City held a salmon release commemorative event in the Janggi Stream area of Janggi-myeon, Nam-gu, in collaboration with the Gyeongbuk Freshwater Fish Research Center, releasing 100,000 salmon fry, a high value-added fish species.

Salmon spawn in rivers and live there for one year before migrating approximately 16,000 km through the North Pacific, including Alaska and Sakhalin, returning to this location after 3 to 4 years.

The release site, Janggi-myeon, is well established as an estuarine area (where freshwater and seawater mix) and is recognized as an optimal location for salmon release, being part of Pohang City's key project, the ‘Smart Aquaculture Cluster Project.’

Pohang City expects that through the synergy of the ‘Juvenile Salmon Release Project’ and the ‘Smart Aquaculture Cluster Project,’ it will become a true mecca of salmon aquaculture, with salmon produced in the city being exported not only domestically but worldwide, contributing to regional development as the center of Korea’s salmon aquaculture industry.

From 2023 to 2026, the city plans to invest approximately 900 million KRW over four years to enhance the effects of the release by creating sea forests in the Sinchang 1-ri fishing village cooperative, conducting coastal cleanup activities, and striving to create various values such as restoring useful seaweed and generating customized jobs for fishing village cooperatives.

Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il stated, “Taking this event as an opportunity, Pohang will be reborn as an ecological space where nature and humans coexist, with salmon returning to spawn. We will spare no administrative support to maximize the effects of the release and to become a mecca of salmon aquaculture in connection with projects like the Smart Aquaculture Cluster Project.”