South Korea: We are looking for overseas fishing grounds to replace squid resources as catches plummet

As squid catches have recently decreased significantly in coastal waters such as the East Sea, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has decided to look for alternative fishing grounds overseas. This is to resolve supply and demand instability by providing a stable supply of squid. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced that it will invest 2.4 billion won in the overseas fishing ground resource survey budget this year to promote related projects. This is an increase of 1 billion won compared to last year. This year, we plan to focus our research on waters in East Africa, including Kenya, which are known to be rich in squid resources. Recently, squid catches have been decreasing. As of 2022, the coastal squid catch was 36,000 tons, and squid production from deep-sea fishing boats was 48,000 tons, a decrease of more than 100,000 tons from eight years ago. In 2014, coastal catch and deep-sea fishing vessel production were 163,000 tons and 167,000 tons, respectively. ...