"Only 18 out of 1.88 million stray animals"...an imported pollack festival

[Anchor]
It's been a long time since pollock, which used to be called the 'national fish', disappeared from the east coast due to rising water temperatures and climate change.

The artificial discharge project, which has been going on for 11 years, has not produced clear results.

Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, is also holding a festival with imported pollack this year with a budget of hundreds of millions of won.

I'm reporter Song Se-hyuk.

[Reporter]
Geojin Port in Goseong, Gangwon-do, once the main production area of pollack.

However, domestic pollack can no longer be found here.

Domestic pollock catches, which exceeded 165,000 tons in the 1980s, plunged to 1,000 tons in the 1990s. Since then, there has been virtually no catch since 2008.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and Gangwon Province have artificially hatched and released 1.88 million pollock fish since 2014 to restore pollock.

However, only 18 pollock have been caught again.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' plan to allow domestic pollock to be put back on the table from 2020 has gone up in smoke.

According to a recent analysis by a research team at Seoul National University, the reasons for the disappearance of pollock are rising water temperature and changes in ocean currents.

Since the late 1980s, the number of major spawning areas of Korean pollack has decreased significantly as the temperature of the East Sea has risen by more than 2 degrees, and the number of young pollack has decreased by 74% as the eastward turbulence has strengthened.

In this situation, it is pointed out that it is difficult to restore pollock only by artificial discharge.

[Jeong Seok-geun, professor of marine life sciences at Jeju National University: Due to rising water temperatures, the main habitat has risen toward the Sea of Ohotzk and Bering, so no matter how many babies are released, the amount is too small....]

This year marks the 24th Goseong Unification Pollack Festival.

Tourists cannot hide their disappointment because there are no domestic pollock and most of them are Russian.

[Sung Kyu-ho / Seongnam City, Gyeonggi-do: I feel sorry that I can't taste pollack in Korea even after coming to the Pollack Festival]The budget invested by

Koseong-gun for this festival is 380 million won.

Many residents oppose the festival, calling it a waste of budget.

[Residents (voice-over): Who says it's good to have a festival with imported products that don't come from here? Only Jangdolbaengi comes and takes out all the pocket money.]

In response, organizers explain that the purpose is to promote past pollack-related cultures and processing industries.

[Kim In-seop / Director General of Goseong Cultural Foundation: The processed pollack industry is still in a booming period, so we are holding a festival to let the whole nation know that]

Amid growing questions about the effectiveness of pollack restoration projects and festivals, there are calls for new strategies to respond to climate change.

I'm YTN's Song Sehyuk.



Filmmaker: Kim Dong-cheol

Design: Woo Hee-seok