Expanded Designated Fishing Area Nearby NLL

Fishing field nearby the Northern Limit Line (NLL) will be significantly expanded.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries announced yesterday to expand 30 km*2 respectively to the existing fishing fields, that are, the A fishing field in the south of Baekryong Island and the B fishing field in the south of Socheong Island. And the Ministry will also create new fishing fields, which will be named as the Northern East Sea Fishing Field and the Bunjigol Fishing Field, in the northern area of the fishing boundary of the West and East Seas.

Consequently, the fishers from South may approach the fishing area only 1.8 miles away from the NLL. It would be the first expansion of the fishing field in the East Sea border area since the South designated the Jeodo fishing field in April 1973, which is only 2 km*2.

MAF explained, ``the new measure has nothing to do with the recent North Korean intrusion of NLL. Rather, [the government] has accepted the demand of the South fishing people for the expansion of the fishing field in the area.`` In addition, the policy was affected by the reduced production of the Alaska Pollack and blue crabs and the implementation of the Korea-China Fisheries Pact.

The fishers can go for the fishing operation in the new East Sea fishing field (68 km*2) from October through March and throughout the year in the Bunjigol fishing field of the West Sea (13 km*2).

The Ministry will also expand the fishing period of the new and the existing A, B, C fishing fields nearby Baekryong Island and Socheong Island from current 4 days a month to 10 days a month. MAF expects up to 10 million won additional profit annually from 1510 tons of fish caught in the areas.

daviskim@donga.com