Harvest season sees continuous ‘oyster deaths’, leaving fishing community ‘devastated’

[Anchor]

During the kimjang season, oysters are considered just as important as Korean cabbage.

As you have seen earlier, the price of Korean cabbage has risen significantly, and with mass die-offs occurring in domestic oyster farms ahead of the harvest season, there are concerns about oyster prices as well.

Lee Hyung-kwan reports.

[Report]

At an oyster farm on the southern coast of Gyeongnam Province.

As we pull up the 7-meter-long cultivation line from the sea, a foul odor fills the air.

["It smells, right? (It smells rotten.)"]

Most of the oysters pulled from the sea are just empty shells.

The few with visible meat are small and seem to have stopped growing.

Fishermen cannot hide their despair.

[Heo Tae-sam/Hail-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gyeongnam Province : "I've been farming oysters for 55 years, and I've never seen a year like this. There's no point in operating the farm, and I can't do it. I just can't."]

This summer, the southern coast has been hit hard by the worst high-temperature on record, and recently, mass die-offs of oysters have followed.

The reported damage in Tongyeong, Goseong, and Geoje in Gyeongnam Province exceeds 1,130 hectares.

This is about 35% of the total farming area, marking the largest damage ever recorded.

The unprecedented high temperatures and phenomena of oxygen-depleted water are believed to be the causes.

[Kim Woo-seok/Chairman of Oyster Farming Association in Goseong, Gyeongnam Province : "At times like this, we need to collect samples to investigate the cause, but the authorities are not responding at all."]

The bigger problem lies ahead next year.

Due to the mass die-offs or poor growth of oysters that were seeded this spring, there are concerns about a decrease in harvest volume.

A chain of damage is expected, from those involved in processing live oysters to oyster farmers.

[Ha Gap-i/Hail-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gyeongnam Province : "We rely entirely on oysters for our livelihoods, including those who shuck the oysters... Given the current situation, we feel hopeless."]

Oyster farmers are left in despair due to the mass die-offs.

They are demanding that the authorities actively investigate the causes of the die-offs and the extent of the damage.

This is KBS News, Lee Hyung-kwan reporting.