South Korea: Red Tide Of Summer Wipes Out 11 Million Fish

Korea JoongAng Daily – “Fisherman Kim Yeon-bok, 58, went down to check his jwichi (tilefish or leatherfish) farm last week off Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang, and found thousands of his fish floating on the sea or washed up on the beach.

They were killed by a toxic red tide that has engulfed a large swath of the southern coast.

The number of fish killed this year along the southern coast is 11 million, according to the South Gyeongsang Provincial Government yesterday, generating 6.05 billion won ($5.45 million) in losses.

‘The catch has been down this year,’ Kim said, ‘So I looked forward to selling 250,000 jwichi. But 90 percent of them have been killed by the red tide.’

The fisherman estimated his loss at over 500 million won. There were so many dead fish, Kim said it would take two to three days to clear them away.

Kim is one of hundreds of farmers suffering from the red tide, caused by massive algae blooms exuding chemicals harmful to marine animals. They are not good for humans to inhale either.

The algae blooms turned the sea a reddish brown color a few days ago.

‘My fish farm was totally ruined by the red tide,’ said Park Soon-bok, 59, who raises chamdom (red sea bream) and jwichi in the southern waters off Tongyeong.

‘It is really daunting to deploy cranes to move hundreds of thousands of dead fish from the sea into the land,’ he said.

In Tongyeong City, one of the most heavily-affected areas, 42 fish farms have lost 80 to 90 percent of their fish.

The government is considering offering financial assistance to the affected areas in the South Gyeongsang regions.

Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Yoon Jin-sook visited Tongyeong last weekend and pledged compensation for the damages.

Fish farms along the coast off Yeosu and Goheung, South Jeolla have been put on a red tide alert.

‘I suffered a lot last year when the red tide killed a huge number of doldom [parrot fish],’ said a 57-year-old fish farmer in Yeosu.

This year’s red tide is expected to be more severe than last year’s, which was blamed on sweltering heat, although the exact cause was never conclusively determined.” Read more.