The Greying Problem of South Korean Fishing Industry

While many South Korean fishing villages persist in maintaining their old-fashioned, authoritarian and hierarchical customs to newcomers, this self-inflicted wound is hastening the greying of the fishermen with not enough fresh blood to take over. By Sunny Um, South Korea correspondent, Maritime Fairtrade

Moving to a fishing village as a seafarer or a fisherman is not so easy in South Korea. Learning the difficult work skills and irregular earnings are high entry barriers, but what is particularly challenging for newcomers is getting accustomed to the old-fashioned hierarchy and hostile attitude against them in many fishing villages.

A 55-year-old woman surnamed Yoon said she left a fishing village after living there for four months, due to its authoritarian customs.

“I moved from Incheon to Ocheon-myeon, South Chungcheong Province in 2016,” she said. “To join the village’s fraternity (which is the only way to make earnings as an individual fisherman) was extremely difficult with high barriers. I had to move out of the village after four months because I had constant conflicts with the villagers and did not make much money (from fishing).”

Another person also shared the suffering of the life of a new fisherman. “An acquaintance of mine moved into a fishing village in Gyeonggi Province. But he could not join the fishing village fraternity unless he paid several million won, even for any recreational fishing. … The acquaintance also did not want to submit to the village’s customs, which made the villagers turn against him.” He had moved out of the village after a year.

High entry barriers

To fish at a certain beach or parts of the ocean, newcomers must join the corresponding fishing village fraternity, whichholds the communal fishing right to the designated fishing ground. Their rights are also guaranteed by the Fisheries Act of 1962 in South Korea.

However, many fraternities ask new members to satisfy certain conditions before they can join, such as a minimum period of residence or entrance payment.