Debt Per Fishing Household Reaches 30 Million Won

With fishermen’s debt on the rise, the debt per household has reached nearly 30 million won. According to the “2003 Economic Research of Fishing Households” that the Department of Statistics reported on April 27, debt increased by 1.044 million won (3.6 percent) from the previous year’s 28.792 million to 29.836 million won last year.

In particular, last year’s fishermen’s debt of 29.836 million won showed a sudden increase of 10.191 million won (51.9 percent) compared to 19.645 million won (former sample standard) of 1999, even taking into consideration the deviation caused by change in samples.

Director of Agriculture and Fisheries Statistics Kim Tae-jung stated, “The reason as to why debt increased is because of the incurred damages from the 2002 Typhoon Rusa and 2003 Typhoon Cicada.”

The annual income of the domestic fishing industry last year was 23.916 million won, a 2.326 million (10.8 percent) increase compared to a year before (21.59 million won). It was reported that dependency on fishing alone increased as more importance was placed on fishing income last year; a 2.9 percent point increase from 44.9 percent to the previous year’s 42.0 percent.

Although assets of the fishing industry increased by 3.107 million won (2.3 percent) from the previous year’s 137.37 million won to 140.477 million won last year in the latter half, it was insufficient to match the rate of debt increase.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com