Ulleungdo Deep Sea Cage Farming Project Scrapped After Spending Billions in Budget

The deep-sea cage facility project initiated by Ulleung County, North Gyeongsang Province, to revitalize the aquaculture industry has been scrapped after ten years, sparking controversy over wasted taxpayer money.

According to Ulleung County and others on the 27th, North Gyeongsang Province and Ulleung County spent 2 billion won in 2015 to install and operate two deep-sea cage facilities (submersible offshore cages) in the waters off Ungpo, Hyeonpo-ri, Buk-myeon, aiming to pilot the cultivation of various fish species such as red sea bream, flatfish, and horse mackerel, which migrate along the coast of Ulleungdo where aquaculture was previously nonexistent. The project has ultimately been abandoned.

Deep-sea cage facility installed in front of the sea at Dokdo Marine Research Base in Hyeonpo-ri, Buk-myeon, Ulleung-gun.

Initially, Ulleung County managed the facilities directly after their completion, but from 2018, they were entrusted to the Ulleungdo-Dokdo Ocean Research Base of the East Sea Research Institute at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology for research purposes. Additionally, the county supported the research base with 1 billion won annually for operating expenses as part of marine research negotiations and, separately from these operating costs, provided 100 million won each year for seven years until this year for cage management expenses while conducting environmental research in the Ulleungdo and Dokdo waters.

This project was particularly designed to shift from capture fisheries to aquaculture, aiming to establish a foundation for a suitable local aquaculture industry and to contribute to increasing fishermen's income.

However, the Ocean Research Base, starting the year after it took over management in 2019, sold high-value fish species (such as red sea bream and flatfish) raised in the deep-sea cages through the Ulleung Fisheries Cooperative auction house, and even dried fish for shipment to the mainland for its own consumption. Furthermore, fishermen discovered that the net of one of the two cage facilities had been damaged, allowing most of the fish to escape, leading to criticism.

Due to overall poor management of the facilities and wasteful project operations, Ulleung County and the Ocean Research Base cited reasons such as "facility aging and typhoon damage," "difficulty in systematic facility management due to the absence of a professional entrusted management institution," and "increased management costs and excessive facility management budget" for dismantling both cage facilities in October last year and June this year, and fully scrapping the project. As a result, the aquaculture project, which consumed a total budget of 9.7 billion won in taxpayer funds over the past ten years, has come to nothing.

In response, local residents commented, "The Ocean Research Base, which should be leading research to foster the marine industry, ended up depleting marine resources while only being concerned with collecting subsidies." An official from a local civic group stated, "The project, which spent billions of won in operating expenses and subsidies over the past ten years, ended up being a contextless and disgraceful waste of taxpayer money," adding, "This case highlights the urgent need for a thorough audit of all subsidy projects by higher-level audit institutions."

Regarding this, Kim Yunbae, head of the Ulleungdo-Dokdo Ocean Research Base, said, "There have been ongoing discussions about the operating body from the beginning," and added, "In conclusion, deep-sea cages are not economically viable or suitable given the conditions of Ulleungdo, and domestic offshore aquaculture technology is still at an early experimental stage, making it virtually impossible to continue the project."

Jung Byungsoo, head of the Fisheries Policy Team at Ulleung County, stated, "After reviewing whether deep-sea cages are suitable for the marine environment of Ulleungdo, we were inevitably forced to discontinue the project due to increased maintenance costs from facility aging and frequent typhoon damage," and added, "We will closely review the execution of operating expenses for the Ocean Research Base in accordance with subsidy management ordinances and related laws."

The Ulleungdo-Dokdo Ocean Research Base of the East Sea Research Institute at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology was established in Ulleungdo in 2005 as part of efforts to defend Dokdo in response to the enactment of the Takeshima Ordinance by Shimane Prefecture, Japan, and currently employs a total of 20 personnel, including three PhD-level researchers.