Directions for the Improvement of Coastal Fisheries Management

연안어업의 관리제도 개선방향 - 어선어업 을 중심으로 -

Reduction of fishing grounds, which was caused by the recent fisheries agreements between Korea, Japan, and China, Is Increasing the important of coastal fisheries. Korea's coastal fisheries, however, need special management measures owing to the following problems. First, there are too many fishing fleets even though fisheries resources are continuously decreasing. Despite the fact that some of the fishing vessels have been scrapped, there still remain too many vessels and especially approximately 27,000 vessels increased during 1997-1998. Second, as the condition of fisheries resources changed radically, many fishermen are fishing by methods which they were not permitted to. These fishing methods cannot be legally supported and so there is a huge gap between the system and the reality, Third, two or three licenses are given to each coastal fishing vessel because a single license cannot give sufficient income, but some of these are formally acquired. So under such circumstances, efficient management of fisheries is impossible. Fourth, absence of demarcation among regions and industries is causing frequent conflicts and there are concerns about the decreasing fisheries resources due to competitive fishing practices. Therefore, considering the above mentioned problems Korea's coastal fisheries management should be developed as the following: First, new licenses should be limited while expanding the buy-back program. The government is currently planning to limit new licenses by introducing the fixed license number system in coastal fisheries but is somewhat passive about the buy-back program. Second, fisheries management which is based on self-regulation should be established. In order to increase the effect of fisheries management, the fishermen should decide by themselves the fish and fishing methods they would be exploiting and directly regulate them. Third, it is necessary to integrate the licenses of coastal fisheries. Since coastal fisheries management through the license system has distinct limitations, it is preferable to unify risking licenses and let the fishermen decide specific matters on their own. Finally, it is necessary to establish boundaries among the regions and industries. Joint fishing areas among regions(cities and provinces) should be established and fishing in other areas should be permitted on condition of paying the required fees. On the other hand, it is also necessary to permit coastal fishing only within certain distances.