[Anchor]
The two-month summer fishing ban on blue crabs in the Yellow Sea has ended, and full-scale operations began early this morning (August 21). However, the catch on the first day fell far short of last year's level, likely due to changes in seawater temperatures.
Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the story from the field.
[Reporter]
In the early hours before sunrise, a blue crab fishing boat returns to port through the rain after finishing its operations.
Boxes filled with blue crabs are unloaded one by one, but the supply quickly runs out.
[Kim Seong-tae / Fisherman: Oh, there is not much. It is quite disappointing. I think it will get a little better starting tomorrow.]
A fishing boat that brought in 4 tons of blue crabs on the first day of the ban's lifting last year returned with only about 1 ton this year, which is a fraction of that amount.
[Yang Won / Fisherman: There are not many crabs this year, and while we should be seeing quite a few young crabs, we only see older ones.]
The distribution of underwater water temperatures is cited as the cause of the decreased catch.
Normally, when the cold water in the lower layers of the Yellow Sea expands, the activity area of blue crabs narrows, causing them to gather densely in fishing grounds. However, analysts say that this cold water mass has weakened this year.
[Lee Seon-gil / Senior Researcher, National Institute of Fisheries Science: The influence of the Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Water mass below 10°C (50°F) has weakened, causing the blue crabs to scatter all over the Yellow Sea...]
People in the field say that higher water temperatures have also had an impact.
[Moon Seong-hoon / Distributor: We believe that the impact of high water temperatures is certainly a factor. Because the water temperature is high, the food chain may be partially damaged...]
However, it is understood that the actual population of blue crabs in the sea has not decreased, and the catch is projected to gradually recover.
These are the autumn blue crabs caught for the first time since the end of the fishing ban.
Having completed packaging, the blue crabs are scheduled to be shipped to large discount supermarkets nationwide and put on sale starting today.
Long lines formed at large supermarkets upon the news of the crabs' arrival.
[Hong Hye-kyung / Seongdong-gu, Seoul: I always look at the promotional flyers and the news to see when the fishing ban ends. That is why I rushed right over to buy them.]
In step with the start of fishing, the distribution industry, including major supermarkets, has entered a lowest-price competition by lowering sales prices even further than last year.
(Video Journalist: Kim Han-gyeol, Video Editor: Kim Jun-hee, Design: Kim Han-gil, VJ: Jeong Han-wuk)
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