‘Amendment to the Act on Measures for Agricultural and Fishery Disasters’ Passes National Assembly Plenary Session
"Strengthening National Compensation Expected to Ensure Management Stability for Farmers and Fishermen"
Seosam Seok, Member of the National Assembly.
From now on, fishermen will be able to receive disaster compensation for damages caused by harmful wild animals such as freshwater cormorants.
The amendment to the "Act on Measures for Agricultural and Fishery Disasters," proposed by Seo Samseok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Yeongam, Muan, and Shinan in Jeonnam), passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 2nd.
Under the current law, damages caused by harmful wild animals such as water deer and wild boars are recognized as agricultural disasters, but fisheries disasters are limited to natural disasters such as abnormal tides, red tide, typhoons, and abnormal high temperatures. Therefore, there has been no legal basis for compensating fisheries for damages caused by harmful wild animals.
As a result, over the five years from 2020 to 2024, there were 263 fisheries affected by harmful wild animals, with damages amounting to 3.2 billion KRW. However, without a basis for compensation, fishermen had to bear the full burden of losses to their aquaculture products.
The amendment includes damages caused by birds and other harmful wild animals within the scope of fisheries disasters, aiming to ensure fairness in disaster compensation between agriculture and fisheries. With this legal foundation, it is expected to greatly help improve the productivity and management stability of the aquaculture industry by enabling fishermen to receive compensation for such damages.
Additionally, the current regulation, which prevented farmers and fishermen who received disaster insurance payouts from receiving disaster compensation support funds, has been improved. Now, those who have received disaster insurance payouts can receive policy support such as extension of policy loan repayment deadlines and interest reductions within the difference of the support fund amount. By clarifying the prohibition of double compensation and overlapping support, this is expected to significantly contribute to the livelihood stability and business continuity of farmers and fishermen.
Seo emphasized, "I hope that expanding national compensation and strengthening support for agricultural and fisheries disasters will help reduce the economic burden on farmers and fishermen and contribute to their livelihood stability," and added, "I will continue to do my best to improve the system so that farmers and fishermen can receive stronger support from the state and maintain their businesses without worry."
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