S. Korea's fish catch drops last year

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's fish catch in 2009 dropped marginally but
its revenue gained due to increased fishing of high-profit fish, a government
report said Tuesday.
During the reported year, the country's fish catch fell 5.5 percent from a year
earlier to 3.17 million tons but the catch generated 6.91 trillion won (US$5.93
billion), up 8.9 percent from a year earlier.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, coastal fishing dropped 4.5 percent
to 1.22 million tons, shallow-sea fish farming fell 4.9 percent to 1.31 million
tons, and deep-sea fishing sank 9.2 percent to 605,000 tons, while in-land
fishing alone rose 3 percent to 30,000 tons.
The fall in fish catch can be attributed to a rapid increase of jellyfish in
coastal fishing grounds that hurt local fishing, decreased harvest of seaweed,
and shutting down of the squid fishing ground off South Atlantic Falkland
Islands.
In spite of the fish catch fall, the revenue made by country's fishing industry
showed growth, resulting from an increase in the catch of high-profit fish such
as yellow corvinas and blue crabs.
minsikyoon@yna.co.kr
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