Abstract
The objective of this paper is to evaluate of fisheries competitiveness in Korea, China and Japan. A joint research with researchers from Korea, China and Japan from 2007 to 2008 was conducted to analyze competitiveness of each respective fishery industry. An industry's competitiveness means the aggregated and potential abilities of the infrastructure, producers and other operators in the industry. The study improved the Norway-Iceland Model developed by the FCI Team(2005) and applied it to the fisheries of the 3 countries. To compare competitiveness of each fishery from the 3 countries, the study examined 87 items including 64 questions and 23 statistics items. Korea fisheries' competitive advantage over China is in marketing capability. Capabilities of fishing companies and fishing processors are also slightly over Japan's performance. However, Korea holds an absolute disadvantage over China and Japan when it comes to the macroeconomic environments and government support, industrial environments and infrastructure, and production and management. Korea's fishing companies and fishing processors especially are much weaker than those of China. In conclusion, Korea needs strategies to advance the industry's structure, China needs to expand the industry's base and Japan needs to differentiate the industry.