Fishermen Collect Trash by Boat... When Will They Return to Daily Life?

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In the southern regions of Gyeongsangnam-do, which were swept by record-breaking torrential rains, fishermen have had to halt their livelihoods due to various types of debris washed ashore. Although military and maritime police personnel have been deployed, recovery efforts remain sluggish.

Here is a report by Choi Hyuk-gyu from KNN.

[Reporter]

Tree branches, discarded styrofoam, and plastics are tangled together along the coastline.

These are the wastes washed down by the heavy rain.

Fishermen board boats to approach the coast and pick up the trash one by one.

It is a coastal area that is difficult to access from land.

As you can see, trash is strewn all along the coastline, leaving fishermen with no choice but to come by boat to collect the waste.

Because of the garbage, fishing has become impossible, forcing them to put their livelihoods aside.

[Lim Young-ki / Chairman, Geoje Coastal Trap Self-Governing Community: Due to the currents, plastic bottles, milk cartons, and various other household wastes are getting trapped inside the fishing pots.]

The Korea Coast Guard has also stepped in to collect floating debris in the sea.

They even mobilized oil-recovery cleanup vessels.

The amount of marine debris collected in just a single day reaches about 5 tons.

The scars of the torrential rain were also left on Hansando, an island village in Tongyeong.

Poured-down soil and trees blocked the paths used by residents.

Heaps of dirt surged right up to the backs of houses.

Being an island, it is difficult for recovery personnel and equipment to enter, making it overwhelming for the residents to handle on their own.

Recovery only barely began after the Coast Guard and the Navy were deployed.

[Jung Soon-ja / Resident of Hansando, Tongyeong: It is truly so thankful that they came all the way here in this heat to help us like this. Words cannot even express how grateful we are.]

The Coast Guard and the Navy plan to continue providing recovery support centered around coasts and islands.

[Ok Hyun-jin / Chief of Tongyeong Coast Guard: We will actively support residents in remote island areas with poor transportation by utilizing patrol vessels and other means to help them return to their daily lives.]

There is an urgent need for more personnel and equipment support in hard-to-reach coastal areas and island villages.

(Video by: Ahn Myung-hwan, Kwon Yong-guk / KNN)

Choi Hyuk-gyu, KNN
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.