Gyeonggi-do Institute of Marine and Fisheries Resources Releases 1.5 Million Native Shrimp

Gyeonggi Province will release 1.5 million native adult shrimp into the wild.

The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Marine and Fisheries Resources announced that it will release 1.5 million native adult shrimp, which it successfully bred, into the coastal waters near Gungpyeong Port in Hwaseong and Oido in Siheung over a two-day period from June 4 to June 5, 2025.

The native adult shrimp being released this time are individuals that were spawned from wild-caught broodstock collected in April from the waters off Jeonnam and Oido in Siheung. Each shrimp measures 1.2 cm in length and has passed aquatic animal disease screening prior to release.

Adult Shrimp

The juvenile shrimp will grow in the released coastal areas, and, due to their rapid growth, are expected to reach a harvestable size of 15 to 20 cm by October 2025.

Kim Seonggon, Director of the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Marine and Fisheries Resources, stated, "Native adult shrimp, a representative marine resource of the West Sea, cannot be produced through aquaculture and have low natural production, making active fisheries resource management essential. We hope that releasing these shrimp will help restore the dwindling native shrimp population and contribute to increasing fishers' incomes."

Since 2020, the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Marine and Fisheries Resources has been researching methods for producing valuable marine seed species such as webfoot octopus and Manila clam, and releasing them into the Gyeonggi Sea. This year, the institute is conducting production trials of Manila clam, surf clam, webfoot octopus, cuttlefish, blue crab, and marsh clam as marine seed species, and the produced seeds will be released sequentially into the Gyeonggi Sea.