Present Status and Future Prospect on Fishing Industry in North Korea

북한수산업(北韓水產業)의 현황(現況)과 전망(展望)

In recent years, the communication and the trade between the Republic of Korea(South Korea) and the Communist bloc has been activated. The simultaneous entrance of South Korea and North Korea to the United Nations will accelerate the political dialogue and also the trade which is indirectly carried out through a third country at present will be turned into direct way. Fisheries products are also treated as one of the important trade goods and there is a hopeful prospect that the amount of trade will be steeply increased in the near future. Furthermore, there is a great possibility of development up to the joint utilization of fishing grounds or the joint investment in fisheries projects. Concerning such points, since it is very much important to understand the present status of fisheries in North Korea, the author made a study on this field as requested by the Board of Unification, and report a part of the study here. The prominent character of North Korea's ruling sea area is that the sea is completely separated into two regions-the East Sea Region and the West Sea Region-and no continuity exists between them. The East Sea Region locates in the fringe of the biggest fishing ground of the world-the North Pacific Ocean-and very rich in resources not only warm water fishes but also cold water fishes. Especially alaska pollack, Theragra chalcogramma, is caught abundantly in this region. Contrary to that, fishing activity in the West Sea Region seems to be interrupted in winter. Even though some valuable warm water fishes-yellow corvenia, Pseudosciaena manchurica, and hair tail, Trichiurus lepturus, and so forth-come to this region from spring to summer along the coast line of this region for spawning, and vigorous fishing activity is carried out. But the most of them migrate southward to the neighboring waters of Cheju Island for wintering from autumn to winter, and so the fishing activity in this region seems to be interrupted greatly during winter. The total number of fishing boats in North Korea is estimated at 36 thousand and the rate of mechnization at about 70% compared with 99 thousand and 78% in South Korea. North Korea proclaimed an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles in 1977. Specific character of this zone is setting of military boundary zone, up to 50 miles from the base line in the East Sea Region and also it covers whole region of the economic zone in the West Sea Region. Especially in the East Sea Region she set up a straight base line which can not be permissible by the international law. North Korea's statistics on fisheries product has not been announced officially on account of her unique isolationism, but it can be estimated through several data procured. At the first, the amount of fisheries products in the North Korea is reported as about 1.7 million ${\frac{M}{T}}$ by Fisheries Statistics which issued by the FAO in 1987, but a North Korea's trade organization announced the amount as 3.5 million ${\frac{M}{T}}$ in 1988. The former seems to be underestimated and the latter must be an exaggeration. According to Chikuni, who is a Japanese worker for FAO, prepared the unofficial statistics based on the evidence which he collected through the fineries development plan of the FAO/UNDP, and estimated the mean amount between 1982 and 1984 was 2.4 million ${\frac{M}{T}}$ or so. The Board of Unification estimated on the basis of various factors that the amount was 2.2 million ${\frac{M}{T}}$ or so in 1987 and in 1988. This seems to be the most reasonable. To solve the chronic lack of foreign currency, North Korea makes effort on the development of fisheries, and has even aimed fisheries product at 11 million ${\frac{M}{T}}$ by 1993, but this target looks unrealistic under the present circumstances. Somehow, we can exploit her extreme policy which has gone so far as to establish such an excessive and impractical target. Nevertheless this will be helpful to promote the joint development of the fishery activity between South Korea and North Korea.