SMART PRODUCTION OF SALMON

[Anchor Lead]

Salmon, one of the world's top-10 superfoods, is farmed in Korea every year by catching female fish and releasing the young. But demand far exceeds supply. The Marine Fisheries Resources Research Institute of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province has embarked on mass producing salmon using a smart farming cluster.

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Salmon weighing around 600 grams swim in a water tank of a marine fisheries resources research institute. The fish were raised artificially by a freshwater fish research center in Uljin for about a year in East Sea water of 10 degrees C. They were provided with customized feed. The marine fisheries resources research institute is trying to farm North Pacific salmon entirely on its own.

[Soundbite] Yoon Sung-min(Marine Fisheries Resources Research Institute) : "We keep some of the female salmon to raise them. When they spawn, we collect their eggs and farm the fry again."

Every year the institute releases young salmon into the sea, but it has to import most of the fish. In the future, the institute plans to raise Atlantic and king salmon as well. Back in February it applied for a research project overseen by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and obtained 2 billion won in funding. The institute is determined to generate a synergistic effect by using a smart farming cluster in Pohang equipped with telecommunication technologies, AI, IoT and big data.

[Soundbite] Kim Sung-hak(Gyeongbuk Marine and Fisheries Bureau) : "Our goal is to produce 10,000 tons of salmon annually using eco-friendly recirculating aquaculture technologies."

Last year Koreans consumed 57,000 tons of salmon, which was designated by the WHO as one of the world's top-10 superfoods.