'Catching Freshwater Snails Will Be Banned'... Pyeongchang County Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Inland Water Capture

(Pyeongchang=Yonhap News) Reporter Im Bo-yeon = Pyeongchang County announced on the 12th that it will intensively crack down on illegal harvesting of daseulgi to protect aquatic resources and establish sound fishing order.

This is to prevent indiscriminate overfishing of daseulgi, which increases during its main growth period in the summer months (June to August).

The county plans to focus on cracking down on illegal activities such as using unauthorized fishing gear like drag nets with frames attached to the mouth of sack-shaped nets, and harvesting immature daseulgi under 1.5 cm in length.

The county will strengthen patrols around the Pyeongchang River during vulnerable nighttime hours and will take strong administrative measures according to inland water fisheries law, including imprisonment of up to one year or fines of up to 10 million won when illegal activities are detected.

Park Mi-gyeong, head of the Livestock and Agricultural Machinery Division, said, "Eradicating illegal harvesting is absolutely necessary for sustainable use of inland water resources" and urged, "Please comply with laws protecting aquatic resources and actively report any illegal activities to the county office."

The county plans to continue enforcement efforts while simultaneously conducting promotional activities to raise public awareness about aquatic resource protection.