WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2015 15 of the country’s aquaculture sector. Fortunately technology and a solid foundation of Korean aquaculture has enabled the country to bridge the gap between seafood demand and supply. However, the importation of seafood from countries where production costs are relatively low is currently contributing to a decline in aquaculture production in the country. Farming Systems and Cultured Species Mariculture Aquaculture contributed more than 49 percent of the total national fisheries production of Korea in 2013. This shows the pivotal role of aquaculture in overall national fish production. Mariculture contributed 98 percent of total aquaculture production in 2013 and has increased by many times in the recent past. For this reason, mariculture has been perceived as a potential farming system to accomplish the mission of strengthening aquaculture in Korea (Bai 2001). Seaweed was 74.7 percent of total mariculture production in 2013 (Table 2). Second to seaweed was mollusk culture (19.2 percent), followed by finfish (4.8 percent) and crustaceans (0.3 percent). Collectively, other species contributed nearly 1 percent to total mariculture production in 2013. Finfish. Marine finfish culture is dominated by olive flounder (Figs. 1 and 2), Korean rockfish, mullet, seabass, red seabream, black seabream and rock seabream. Marine finfish production was 73,108 t in 2013 (KOSTAT 2014). The contribution of marine finfish farming to total mariculture production has grown impressively from 0.8 percent in 1995 to 4.8 percent in 2013. The most important species of marine finfish are olive flounder, produced in onshore tank farms and Korean rockfish, produced in offshore floating net-pens (Table 3). Olive flounder accounted for more than 50 percent of Korean marine finfish production in 2013 (KOSTAT 2014). Korean rockfish production was 23,757 t in 2013, representing 32.5 percent of the total marine finfish production. Other important marine finfish were mullet (4,788 t), red seabream (2,755 t), sea bass (1,248 t), black seabream (913 t), rock seabream (884 t) and others (1,819 t). Land-based tank culture systems are most commonly used marine finfish culture systems in Korea. Seawater is often pumped from the open sea directly into a header tank and then supplied to fish tanks. Farms are usually located on the relatively protected south and west coasts, especially on Jeju Island which is the most southerly part of the country. Olive flounder is the dominant marine finfish that is reared in land-based culture tanks (Fig. 2). After the establishment of artificial fingerling production of olive flounder and Korean rockfish, rearing of these species in cages was attempted. However, olive flounder growth was unsatisfactory in the absence of a (CONTINUED ON PAGE 16) TABLE 3. Major marine finfish culture production (t). Species 1975 1985 1995 2005 2010 2013 Olive flounder - - 6,733 40,075 40,925 36,944 Korean rockfish - - 985 21,297 20,918 23,757 Sea bass - - 193 2,600 1,952 1,248 Black sea bream - 23 9 2,671 2,254 913 Red sea bream - - 25 5,816 6,300 2,755 Rock sea bream - - 16 2,048 902 884 Mullet - 1 34 5,500 4,657 4,788 Others - - 365 1,430 2,202 1,819 Total 0 24 8,360 81,437 80,110 73,108 SOURCE : KOSTAT (2012) FIGURE 1. Olive flounder farm at Marine Science Institute of Jeju National University. FIGURE 2. Olive flounder farm at Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Seogwipo City, Seong san Sinpung village.
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