South Korea is aiming to give its fishing industry a fresh lease of life.<br />The government has devised a ten-year action to counter the decline in young people entering the industry and make it more sustainable. <br />Oh Soo-young reports. <br />The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced a plan Wednesday to turn South Korea's ailing fishing sector into a 89-billion-dollar industry by the year 2030.<br />Finalized at a ministerial meeting, the plan is a response to a decline in the number of people working in fishing... and the sector's growing shortage of young people in particular.<br />The goal of the ten-year roadmap is to boost livelihoods and create 40-thousand new jobs by building prosperous fishing communities.<br />This involves a drive to renovate some 80 ports and harbors in the country... starting this year,... and by 2022, to modernize 300 fishing towns and ports.<br />The trade and science ministries will also join in... to develop technologies that can increase fisheries production in a smart and eco-friendly way.<br />A management system for coastal fishing will also be established,...as will more effective ways to prevent the overfishing of certain species... and illegal fishing.<br />By creating a sustainable flow of production and consumption,... the government will also nurture 100 local companies with the aim of creating some 3-point-four billion dollars worth of fisheries exports.<br />With the plan, the government hopes to raise the industry's total annual revenue from the 59 billion dollars recorded in 2016 to 89 billion dollars by 2030.<br />Oh Soo-young, Arirang News. <br />
