The total production value slipped an annual rate of 1.9 percent between 2011 and 2015, while the number of the fleet fell by 8.5 percent in 2015 versus the average in the 2010-2014 period, the report said. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s fisheries production was the fifth largest among members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2015 and the government reduced the budget support for the local industry, the oceans ministry said Thursday.
South Korea caught wild fisheries and aquatic plants worth $5.44 billion in 2015, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said, citing the OECD 2017 Review of Fisheries.
The total production value slipped an annual rate of 1.9 percent between 2011 and 2015, while the number of the fleet fell by 8.5 percent in 2015 versus the average in the 2010-2014 period, the report said.
Japan ranked top with $12.99 billion, followed by Chile with $7.97 billion, Norway with $7.91 billion and the United States with $6.71 billion in 2015.
Among non-OECD members, China produced the biggest amount of seafood worth $170.4 billion and Indonesia came next with $18.07 billion in the same period.
The latest OECD review covers 35 countries, comprising 28 OECD members and seven major producers — Argentina, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Lithuania, Taipei and Thailand. Together, they represent nearly half of global fisheries production.
The South Korean government supplied 482 billion won (US$426 million) in subsidies for the fisheries sector in 2015, a 29 percent decrease compared with the 2009-2011 average, the report said.
Support policies included low interest loans to small fisheries to secure their businesses and vessel decommissioning to maintain fleet size at sustainable levels, it said.
(Yonhap)
