Coastal and offshore fisheries production in South Korea hit a 44-year record low.
 
According to a report released by the Korea Maritime Institute on Monday, 923-thousand tons of fish were caught in coastal and offshore waters last year, down 12-point-seven percent from a year earlier and nearly half the amount recorded in 1986 at one-point-73 million tons.
 
This marks the first time since 1972 the output of the offshore fishing industry has fallen below one million tons.
 
In the offshore fishing industry, the catch per ship dropped 370-point-three tons in 1972 to 251-point-six tons last year. Production by each coastal fishing ship also fell from ten-point-one tons to six-point-two tons.
 
Chinese fishing ships’ illegal operations are the biggest cause for the plunge. The institute said that South Korea loses up to 650-thousand tons of maritime resources a year due to illegal fishing by Chinese ships.
 
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will announce an all-encompassing package of measures to preserve maritime resources next week.