Fish farmers conduct emergency releases amid record high water temperatures

Fish farmers in Shinan County, South Korea, are racing against time to save their stock from the perils of high water temperatures. On a recent morning, the water temperature in a 2-hectare rockfish farm reached 28.5 degrees Celsius, prompting an urgent operation to move juvenile fish to cooler, open sea waters. "When the water temperature reached nearly 31 degrees, we were discarding 10 buckets of dead fingerlings each day, holding 400 to 500 fish," said farmer Kim Ki-ho (66), pointing to blue buckets scattered across the facility.

The emergency release involved a coordinated effort by Kim, three migrant workers from China, and one Korean worker. Using nets, they herded the rockfish into a confined area before scooping them into large baskets. A county official then recorded the weight before the fish were released into the adjacent sea. This critical operation, aimed at mitigating mass mortality, lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes under the oppressive heat. "Let's finish before it gets hotter. Otherwise, they'll all die," Kim urged his team.

Emergency releases are permitted in areas under high-temperature advisories, where water temperatures exceed or are expected to exceed 28 degrees Celsius. The process requires farmers to submit a plan and pass disease inspections before receiving approval for a limited quantity of fish. Kim released 80,000 juvenile rockfish, with compensation set at 700 won per fish, up to a maximum of 50 million won per farm. This practice not only reduces the likelihood of fish deaths in the farm but also contributes to replenishing coastal fishery resources.

Officials note that rising sea temperatures, exacerbated by climate change, are increasing the challenges for aquaculture. The number of fish farms in Shinan County applying for emergency releases has surged from three last year to eleven this year, with a total of 820,000 fish scheduled for release, a fourfold increase. Across the wider Jeonnam-Gwangju region, over 200 farms have applied for emergency releases this year, highlighting the growing threat to the industry. "If we don't respond well to high temperatures, the losses will only grow," Kim expressed, a sentiment echoed by the increasing number of farmers seeking this urgent intervention.