CHANGES IN YELLOWTAIL HABITAT(EAST SEA)

[Anchor Lead]

Waters off Gangwon-do Province used to be full of pollocks, but now the East Sea has become the abundant fishing ground of the yellowtail. Originally inhabiting Jeju, yellowtail tuna have moved up the east coast to the Gangwon-do coasts, driven by rising water temperatures. Now the large, fatty fish has become one of the three seafood specialties of the East Sea.

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Fishermen are busy hauling up yellowtail. The fish is enjoyed raw around this time of the year. This species used to live mainly in waters off Jeju Island, but lately they have been caught in abundance even in the northernmost part of the East Sea. The yellowtail catch has dramatically increased in recent years.

[Soundbite] LEE GANG-SAN(FISHERMAN) : "If we used to get about 100 yellowtail per year, we started catching 1,000 of them since 4 years ago."

In fact, about 3,500 tons have been caught this year in waters off the Gangwon region in the eastern part of Korea. In terms of the amount caught, the yellowtail has become one of the three seafood specialties of the east coast, along with the snow crab and squid. It's believed there's a greater number of yellowtail to be caught at sea. This is why the Gangwon-do provincial government is promoting a new yellowtail fishing method. The provincial authorities plan to introduce a new fishing method that uses individual fishing poles to catch yellowtail, like in Jeju Island, in addition to the conventional method of setting up nets along the yellowtail migrating routes. The local government also plans to raise the yellowtail in offshore fish farms.

[Soundbite] KIM HYEONG-OK(GANGWON-DO PROVINCIAL GOV'T EMPLOYEE) : "Fishermen are expected to make about KRW 10 bn in annual income if they continue to do their job and this trend continues."

Climate change is affecting the local marine environment in various ways, even forcing the yellowtail to make the East Sea their main habitat.