About 60 percent of all of the flatfish raised in aquafarms in Korea comes from Jeju. But fish farmers have a big problem, because the fish have a mortality rate of over 30 percent. New research suggests that disinfecting the water they’re raised in could reduce the death rate. Joseph Kim has more.
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In 2014, around 42,000 tons of flatfish were raised in Korea, and Jeju’s fish farms accounted for the majority of that total.
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Mortality rate of farmed flatfish in Jeju: 31.5%

However, the high mortality rate of flatfish is one of the difficulties that the farmer's regularly face. In 2014, the loss rate of flatfish in Jeju was over 30%.

Use of antibiotics can reduce the mortality rate in the fish, but farmers run the risk of losing the trust of the consumers as well as a drop in the quality of the fish.

A new study has shown that a new method of disinfecting the water for fish farms may lead to a decrease in the loss of the fish. The National Institute of Fisheries Science Jeju Fisheries Institute set up a task force to deal with flatfish mortality and shared the details of the experiment at the briefing session.

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Water disinfection cuts mortality rate by 60%

In the experiment, water was disinfected through ozonolysis, electrolysis, and UV sterilization. The death rate of the fish was reduced by 60%, and common infections like streptococcus that can cause illness in the fish has been drastically reduced.

INTERVIEW
Park No-baek / Jeju office, NFRDI
Each disinfection technique is tested through water treatment processes over a long period. Fish farms that applied the techniques said they helped keep more fish alive.
<인터뷰 : 박노백 국립수산과학원 제주수산연구소>
"각가의 소독기술은 정수처리공정에서 오랫동안 검증된 부분이라 할 수 있고, 검증된 기술을 양식장에 도입해서 폐사율에 도움이 됐다고 평가를."
-----수퍼체인지-----

INTERVIEW
Kang Joon-seok / Director, NFRDI
Fish mortality has dropped to between 15 and 20 percent. Basically, the research shows that it could bring in at least 50 billion won in additional profits to the fish farming industry.
<인터뷰 : 강준석 / 국립수산과학원장>
"폐사량이 15~20%수준까지 저감됐습니다. 기본적으로 양식업계에 500억 원 이상의 수익을 올릴 수 있는 획기적인 연구였다고 평가할 수 있습니다."

Fish farmers are hoping that if they apply this research in reality, the decreased death rate will lower the cost of production.

INTERVIEW
Kim Gwang-ik / Managing director, Jeju fish farming federation
Based on this research, I think we can boost international competitiveness by cutting 30 percent of production costs.
<인터뷰 : 김광익 / 제주어류양식수협 상무이사>
"이번 연구결과를 통해서 약 30%정도의 생산비가 절감될 경우 충분히 국제경쟁력이 있지 않겠느냐고 생각을 하고 있습니다."

[Camera]
Kim Yong-min

[REPORTER] Joseph Kim

Since this research was conducted over a limited period of time, the National Institute of Fisheries Science will study the outcomes over a longer period and analyze the fish from youth to maturity so that they can spread the fish farming technology to the farmers.

Joseph Kim KCTV