40,000 tons of marine waste generated annually by fishing boats... More than 1 floating object entanglement accident per day

(Cheonan = Yonhap News) Reporter Yoo Eui-ju = It has been pointed out that the amount of marine waste produced by fishing boats reaches 40,000 tons per year, and that more than one accident involving floating objects due to discarded fishing gear occurs every day.

According to data received from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 30th by Rep. Lee Jae-gwan of the Democratic Party of Korea (Cheonan-eul, South Chungcheong Province), a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, marine waste generated at sea has reached an average of 56,009 tons over the past five years.

Among these, waste from fishing boats amounted to 42,988 tons, accounting for 76.7% of the total. Many of these are believed to be discarded fishing gear, such as nets and traps.

However, the collection performance of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' 'Coastal Sea Fishing Ground Productivity Improvement Support Project', which removes waste fishing gear lost and deposited in the sea, was only 4,292 tons as of 2024.

Representative Lee pointed out that the problem is that waste fishing gear that is not collected remains in the sea and continues to cause damage.

Discarded fishing gear that has sunk to the bottom of the sea is said to cause 'ghost fishing', in which marine products are caught without permission. The amount of damage from ghost fishing continues to increase from 415 billion won in 2021 to 456.6 billion won last year, and the damage caused by this is estimated to be about 10% of annual fishing production.

Waste fishing gear, waste nets, etc. floating on the water get wrapped around the ship's propeller and cause the ship to stop sailing.

According to data submitted by the Central Maritime Safety Tribunal, floating object entanglement accidents increased from 336 cases in 2021 (average 0.9 cases per day) to 535 cases last year (average 1.5 cases per day), and more than one incident occurs every day.

Rep. Lee emphasized, "Abandoned fishing gear that has sunk to the bottom of the sea becomes a 'ghost net' that catches fish on its own, depleting fisheries resources, and discarded fishing gear floating on the water is leading to safety accidents that tie up fishing boats," and added, "We must first determine the cause of why waste fishing gear continues to be produced, and establish a virtuous cycle management system that recycles the discarded fishing gear."