PREVENTION MEASURES TO AVOID RED TIDE DAMAGES

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Red tide is predicted to begin in the southern coast in August. A large-scale exercise took place in waters off Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do Province to cut the fish farmers' losses from the red tide. One ammunition in their arsenal was a mobile phone app for rapid response.

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Waters off Tongyeong. Home to the biggest number of aqua farms in the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do Province. When red tide appears... Coast Guard and military vessels team up to eliminate the algal blooms. The large clean-up vessel sprays six tons of red clay per minute to lower the concentration of red tide microorganisms. This is a large-scale joint exercise against a simulated red tide situation. This year, a mobile phone app was used for prompt reporting and response.

[Soundbite] LEE IN-SEOK(FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT DIVISION, GYEONGSANGNAM-DO PROVINCIAL GOV'T) : "When red tide occurs this year, we will work together with relevant agencies to act quickly and thoroughly to minimize the damage."

Authorities also checked fishermen's response measures, such as how rapidly they moved the fish farms and released 20,000 sea breams. After this year's long rainy season, a red tide alert is expected to be issued for the southern coast in August.

[Soundbite] LIM WOL-AE(RESEARCHER, NAT'L INSTITUTE OF FISHERIES SCIENCE) : "Once the amount of sunshine increases after the rainy season, the toxic red tide organisms are expected to appear. We expect the red tide to occur rather late this year."

The Gyeongsangnam-do provincial government is gearing up to fight the red tide by allocating 8.8 billion won to the disaster control budget and securing 62,000 tons of red clay.