Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Releases One Million Cod Juveniles, a Signature High-Income Winter Species, Hoping for Recovery of Coastal Fishery Resources

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Busan Metropolitan City’s Fisheries Resources Research Institute (the Institute) announced that it will release one million juvenile cod to help restore cod resources, a high-income winter species, into waters near Dadae Port in Saha-gu today (Feb. 3) and near Dongseon Port in Gangseo-gu tomorrow (Feb. 4).

Cod, known for its large head and mouth, is a premium fish widely enjoyed for its clean, refreshing taste. As a low-calorie, high-protein food, it is popular in soups and is used in a variety of dishes, including its roe, gills, intestines, and skin.

While cod stocks once declined sharply due to factors such as overfishing, recent years have seen a recovery thanks to the continued release of juveniles and artificially fertilized eggs by local governments, including Busan Metropolitan City. The Institute has been releasing cod juveniles every year since 2012.

The juvenile cod released this time were hatched from eggs obtained from robust, highly vigorous broodstock at the Institute’s seed production facility and measure approximately 8 to 9 millimeters in length.

After release, the juveniles move to deeper waters along the East Coast in spring, where they live before migrating along cold-water layers in winter to Jinhae Bay on the South Coast for spawning migration.

Spawning migration: a migratory movement in which fish travel to spawning grounds for reproduction.

Director Kim Jun-tae of the Fisheries Resources Research Institute said, “Starting with this year’s cod release, we plan to continuously produce and release high-quality fishery seeds—such as spotted sea bass, olive flounder, black porgy, yellow puffer, Southeast Asian mitten crab, blue swimmer crab, and prawn—into Busan’s coastal waters,” adding, “We will continue to make every effort to restore coastal fishery resources that are increasingly being depleted, while also helping raise fishers’ income.”