Korea is striving to become one of the world's top five ocean superpowers by 2016.
"Korea will be able to enter the list of the world's top five ocean superpowers by 2016 if it makes a strong push for enhancing competitiveness in the shipping and harbor industries, securing the ability of the fishery industry to stand on its own, and actively fostering the future-oriented and high value added ocean industry," said Minister of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries Kang Moo-hyun.
At present, Korea ranked 10th in the world in terms of sea power with its rankings of 1st in shipbuilding, 5th in container disposal quantity, 8th in bottoms and 15th in production of fisheries products.
"To help the country enter the list of the world's top five ocean superpowers, the government will enhance global competitiveness of the shipping, harbor and logistics industries by expanding growth foundation through establishment of organizations exclusively dealing with shipping, logistics and financing business and development of investment funds," said Kang.
The ministry will also explore new growth engines, such as the ocean cruise industry, and build networks for global shipping and logistics cooperation, he said.
The ministry will also convert the fishery industry into a new growth-oriented industry through structural reform and market- centered distribution, processing and safety systems.
"To cope with future environmental changes such as shortage of land space, deepening of environmental pollution and shortage of resources & energy, we will actively foster ocean science technology, protect the ocean environment and create new value in the ocean," said the minister.
Asked about the tasks to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic fishery industry, Minister Kang said the domestic fishery industry is suffering from market opening, reducing fishery resources and aging society.
"In particular, as the market opening speed is expected to be accelerated further owing to negotiations of FTA and WTO/DDA, the domestic fishery industry is required to seek new direction," he said.
Imports of fishery goods have steadily increased from 1.2 million tons in 1996 to 1.4 million tons in 2000 and further to 2.6 million tons in 2006, but the domestic production of fisheries in coastal and neighboring waters reduced from 1.6 million tons to 1.2 million tons, and again to 1.1 million tons during the corresponding period.
Meanwhile, the number of those in fishery villages decreased from 330,000 in 1996 to 223,000 in 2006 with the portion of those aged 60 or older rising from 20.2 percent of the total to 34.3 percent during the corresponding period.
For the fresh take-off of the domestic fishery industry, the government will create a sustainable fishery production foundation by systematically propelling projects to recover fishery resources and persistently cracking down on illegal fishery activities, he said.
To support and foster the farming industry, it will also diversify farming items and accelerate development of high value added fishery items, while actively fostering export strategy items, including flatfish and abalone, said the minister.
"We will aggressively foster the distribution and processing industries through reform of the distribution structure and strengthen the safety management for fisheries goods in order to enhance confidence in fishery products among people," said Kang.
"In particular, the ministry will help fishery villages diversify and increase their incomes through activation of tourism programs to fishery villages, while making all-out efforts to improve living standards of fishermen," said the minister.
On the plan to create new ocean industry generating high value adds, Minister Kang said that the ministry will push for demand-oriented mid and long-term R&D projects and other fresh projects.
Related to this, the ministry is now conducting a feasibility study on the development of the U-based shipping logistics system and the development of ocean investigation equipment using nanotechnology and optical sensors.
"At the same time, we will place emphasis on activating R&D projects related to ocean science technology and the development of equipment for ocean exploration and research equipment," he said.
In line with this, the ministry will map out a comprehensive plan to effectively and systematically secure and manage ocean life resources, while developing relevant technologies, he said.
In particular, he continued to say, the ministry will improve systems for finding out new R&D projects and propulsion systems in the environmental, fishery and safety fields.
The ministry will persistently push for R&D projects for specific fishery goods and commercialize mid and large-scale R&D projects in the fishery fields.
For effective management of R&D projects in the environmental and safety sectors, the government will also reinvent the propulsion systems of the existing businesses, while exploring new tasks continuously.
