Blue Crab Catch Plummets as Ban Lifts and Spawning Migration Scatters

[Anchor]

Full-scale fishing operations began yesterday (August 21) along the west coast as the blue crab fishing ban was lifted. The catch on the first day fell far short of last year's levels, with changes in seawater temperatures appearing to play a role.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the details from the field.

[Reporter]

In the early hours of the morning before sunrise, a blue crab fishing boat returns to port through the rain after finishing its operations.

Crates filled with blue crabs are unloaded one by one, but they quickly empty out.

[Kim Sung-tae / Fisherman: Oh, it is not much. It is quite disappointing. I think it will get better from tomorrow, little by little.]

A fishing boat that brought back 4 tons of blue crabs on the first day of the ban's lifting last year carried only about 1 ton this year, which is less than a quarter of the previous volume.

[Yang Won / Fisherman: There aren't many crabs this year. We should be seeing some young crabs, but only older crabs are visible.]

The distribution of underwater water temperatures is being cited as the cause of the decreased catch.

Normally, when the cold water in the lower layers of the West Sea expands in influence, the active areas for blue crabs narrow, concentrating the fishing grounds. However, analysis indicates that this cold water influence has weakened this year.

[Lee Sun-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 across the West Sea....]

People in the field say that rising water temperatures have also had an impact.

[Moon Sung-hoon / Distributor: We believe that the impact of high water temperatures is certainly a factor. Because water temperatures are high, the food chain may be partially damaged....]

However, as it has been determined that the overall population of blue crabs in the sea has not decreased, it is projected that the catch will gradually recover.

Long lines formed at major supermarkets at the news of the crab arrivals.

[Hong Hye-kyung / Seongdong-gu, Seoul: I always look at the flyers and the news to see when the fishing ban ends. That is why I rushed right over to buy them.]

Major retailers and other distribution industries have entered a lowest-price competition by lowering retail prices even further than last year to coincide with the start of fishing operations.

(Photo: Kim Han-gyeol | Video Editing: Kim Jun-hee | Design: Kim Han-gil | VJ: Jeong Han-wook)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.