Under normal circumstances, foreign sailors return to their home countries during the break and come back to South Korea in time for the fishing season. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Fishing villages are suffering from manpower shortages as foreign sailors have been blocked from entering South Korea due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection.
Some eight to nine crew members are needed for a single blue crab fishing boat. Under current laws, up to two foreign sailors are allowed per fishing boat.
Thus, blue crab fishing boats, which are typically less than 20 tons in size, have to compete with fish farms, salt fields and even one-ton small fishing boats for foreign sailors.
In particular, small fishing boats under 20 tons, which account for 96 percent of the South Korean fishing fleet, are hiring illegal aliens as they have failed to find foreign sailors on time in the wake of the aging of fishermen and in the aftermath of COVID-19.
A captain of a fishing boat said, “Foreign sailors who usually stay illegally typically ask for 2.5 million won (US$2,060) to 2.8 million won in monthly salary, but after the coronavirus outbreak, they do not come even if we offer 3.5 million won.”
Meanwhile, fishermen who are on a break are also having trouble managing foreign sailors who are staying in the country at the height of COVID-19 outbreak.
Under normal circumstances, foreign sailors return to their home countries during the break and come back to South Korea in time for the fishing season.
However, due to the prolonged coronavirus crisis, many of the foreign sailors were in a position to spend a three-month break in here starting on April 6.
If they fail to return to South Korea after their visit to their home country during the fishing season, fishing villages might not be able to operate due to labor shortages.
Fishing boat owners will support foreign sailors’ stay in the southern port city of Busan during the break.
If one fishing company, which employs about 20 foreign sailors, is assumed to support the three-month stay of foreign sailors here, additional costs worth about 100 million won are expected.
Control and management of foreign sailors are also not easy.
“We need to practice social distancing to prevent the COVID-19 infection from spreading, but it is virtually impossible to manage hundreds of adults one by one,” said an official at the Large Steamers’ Fisheries Cooperative Union.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
