World Aquaculture September 2018

6 SEP TEMBER 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG New President-elect of the WAS Korean Chapter Dr. Yoo Jin-Hyung, CEO of Korea Aquatic Life Research Cooperative, ASBIG INTER Co, Ltd, and current Korean Chapter Board Member, has been recommended as President-elect. Dr. Yoo accepted the decision of the ad hoc senior advisory council, chaired by Professor Emeritus andWAS Fellow Lee Jeong-Yeol on Aug. 1. He will serve as President of the Korean Chapter from 2019-2020. During his term, the Korean Chapter will collaborate on the International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF) 2020 in Busan. MoU on Academic Cooperation with the Koran Aquafeed Association An MoU has been established between the WAS Korean Chapter and the Korean Aquafeed Association (KAA) (President Mr. Choi Chanhwan). The two organizations will undertake collaborative work in the form of academic and business cooperation. The KAAwill host the next International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF) 2020 in Busan. The WAS Korean Chapter will collaborate with the KAA to host this event. The 3rd International Experts’ Workshop on Fish Disease The 3rd International Experts’ Workshop on Fish Disease was held by the National Fisheries Products Quality Management Service (NFQS, www.nfqs.go.kr) in Busan in June. Over 100 participants gathered for the workshop, including fish disease experts from the Danish Veterinary Research Institute, Canada Fisheries and Oceans Research Institute, Norwegian National Veterinary Research Institute, UK Environmental Aquaculture Center, Japan Aquaculture Research Institute, domestic fisheries colleges, research institutes and other stakeholders. There were presentations and discussions on fish viruses mainly occurring in flounder and salmonid fishes including viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) and discussions on assessment methods and procedures related to import risk assessment to reduce the risk of introduction of foreign pathogens. Inter-Korean Fisheries Cooperation The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (hereinafter referred to as Suhyup) (Chairman Mr. Kim Im-Kweon) decided to open the Inter-Korean fisheries Cooperation Team on June 21 and actively participated in a full-fledged fisheries exchange between South and North Korea. Suhyup expects the projects of the exchange and cooperation as follows: allowing South Korean fishing boats in the North Korean Sea, developing aquaculture farms, installing aquatic products processing plants and refrigeration warehouses, and establishing joint fish markets. Based on the cooperative management of the two Koreas, Suhyup has started to support a project to install shellfish and seaweed farms first and then will gradually expand to the culture of other species. South Korean Farm-bred Bluefin Tuna South Korean farm-bred bluefin tuna is coming to the market this year. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) held a commemorative ceremony for shipment of bluefin tuna from Tongyeong Yokji Island and announced plans for development of the tuna aquaculture industry in June. After a lot of trial and error over the past decade, Hongjin Fishing Association has succeeded in growing bluefin tuna in a pen over the last 22 months. The fish are as large as 30 kg and about 30,000 t will be sold on the market later this year. MOF said it will support research and development efforts to develop fish farming businesses and expand related infrastructure and facilities needed for the mass commercialization of tuna bred in captivity. Large-scale tuna aquaculture could help maintain global stocks of the endangered bluefin tuna. 2018 Kim (Laver) Industry Development Workshop The 2018 Kim (Laver) Industry Development Workshop’ was held by the Korea Laver Industry Association at JeonnamHaenam Youth Hostel in July. Four topics were presented: “Kim Industry Development Plan and Measures” (Mr. Noh Jin-kwan, Director, Export Promotion Department), “Last year’s seed production and trend of supply and demand in this year” (Ms. Baek Eun-young, Fisheries Observation Center, KMI), “Status of the fisheries subsidy business and operation evaluation standard” (Mr. Lee Nam-soo, Team leader, Fishery Observation Center, KMI), and “Grading System” (Professor Yoshio Kawamura, Faculty of Agriculture, Saga University). Korean Aquaculture Output The MOF (Minister KimYoung-choon) said the production of aquaculture products in the first half of 2018 was about 1,573 thousand t. This is a 22 percent increase compared to the five-year average, but a slight decrease (-5.5 percent) compared to the first half of 2017, which was the highest level ever. As a result, the export of Korean aquaculture products is also increasing steadily. Major aquaculture exports in the first half of this year were about 44,600 tons in terms of volume (8.7 percent increase) with a value of US$ 450 million (10.5 percent increase). The output of major products such as abalone (31.1 percent) and sea bream (23.8 percent) showed remarkable growth. The production of oysters (12.5 percent) and laver (5.6 percent) also increased compared to the same period last year, but the production of miyeok ( Undaria ) (19.3 percent) and flounder (15.3 percent) decreased. Heat Wave Kills 1.2 Million Farmed Fish Again As the record-breaking heat wave of 2018 summer continued for a month in Korea, high seawater temperatures caused the death of 1.22 million fish in marine cage farms. The average temperature of the coast of Korea is about 27-29 C, which is about 2-3 C higher than normal. According to the MOF, the number of fish killed from Korean Chapter C H A P T E R R E P O R T S ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 0 )