Pohang releases 400,000 farmed flounder to limit high-water-temperature losses

Pohang city in North Gyeongsang Province released 400,000 starry flounder — each measuring 10 to 12 centimeters in length — from five land-based fish farms between Wednesday and Thursday as an emergency measure to limit losses to farmed fish caused by high water temperatures.

The emergency release is a disaster-response program that protects marine resources and reduces losses by releasing healthy fish into the sea before mass die-offs occur when aquaculture stocks face threats from natural disasters such as high water temperatures or red tides.

Fish farms participating in the release will receive support covering 90 percent of their stocking costs under the government's natural disaster recovery cost calculation standards.

"The emergency release is a preemptive measure to reduce damage before mass die-offs from high water temperatures occur," said Oh Jeong-heung, head of Pohang's fisheries policy division. "We will closely monitor water temperatures and the condition of farmed marine life, and mobilize every available response tailored to conditions on the ground to minimize losses for fish farmers."

Meanwhile, high water temperatures have so far killed about 1.64 million fish in the Pohang area — approximately 1.606 million starry flounder and 34,000 olive flounder — with estimated losses reaching around 1.1 billion won ($777,000).