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Busan Metropolitan City to Hold “Fisheries and Fishing Village Development Opinion-Gathering Meeting”

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) will directly engage in communication with fishermen to find breakthroughs for fisheries communities facing difficulties due to the climate crisis and aging demographics.

The City announced that it will hold the “Fisheries and Fishing Village Development Opinion-Gathering Meeting” today (the 20th) at 3:00 p.m. in the conference room of the Gijang Fisheries Resources Research Center, attended by Mayor Park Heong-joon and around 150 participants including heads of fishing village cooperatives in Gijang County.

This meeting has been organized to listen to the candid voices of fishermen who continue their work amid rapidly changing conditions such as declining fisheries resources and rising costs, and to seek practical solutions. Agenda items to be discussed from multiple angles include rational adjustment of the closed season for coastal bag nets (branch-type stationary nets), measures related to shore harvesting by non-fishermen, and expansion of income-enhancement programs for fishermen—longstanding issues raised by those in the field.

Coastal bag nets (branch-type stationary nets) refer to a type of coastal fishery in which aquatic animals are captured using stationary or bag nets operated by a single non-powered or powered fishing vessel.

Regarding the issues discussed, the City plans to review and 추진 measures such as easing fishing regulations, implementing pilot projects, amending the Fisheries Resources Management Act and enacting ordinances, creating a national marine ecological park, establishing marine ecological forests, and expanding the production and release of region-specific seeds such as sea cucumbers and seaweed.

In addition, starting with this meeting, the City will continue a series of on-site relay communication meetings across Busan. By collecting diverse opinions from fisheries workers and reflecting them in the Third Busan Fisheries and Fishing Village Development Plan, the City aims to secure competitiveness in the fisheries and fishing village sector and establish strategies for sustainable development.

Meanwhile, this year the City plans to promote initiatives such as marine forest creation and management of fishing villages and fishing grounds, the Fishing Village New Vitality Enhancement Project, development of urban complex multifunctional fishing ports, restructuring of coastal and offshore fisheries, and purchase and release of fisheries seeds, in order to respond to the climate crisis, manage fisheries resources, and create vibrant fishing village and port complex spaces within the city.

Alongside these efforts, to stabilize fishermen’s livelihoods, the City will also implement highly tangible welfare policies including payment of public interest allowances and direct payments, support for fuel costs for small fishing vessels, and support for fisheries policy insurance and eco-friendly energy-saving equipment. By expanding on-site communication across Busan, the City plans to accelerate efforts to resolve difficulties faced by fisheries workers.

Mayor Park Heong-joon emphasized, “Although the fisheries industry is facing a crisis due to climate change, depletion of fisheries resources, and rising fuel prices, if we seek answers in the field, we can surely create new opportunities,” adding, “This meeting will serve as a turning point for our city’s fisheries industry to make a new leap forward.”

He continued, “We will continue to communicate closely with fisheries communities and spare no policy support so that our city can firmly establish itself as the center of Korea’s fisheries economy and a global marine hub city.”