2. Reason for proposal

In order to prevent illegal fishing, etc. during fishing activities in Korean coastal and inshore sea to meet the strengthened endeavors and cooperation by international societies to stop and prevent illegal fishing, unreported fishing, and unregulated fishing for the continuous use of fishing resources, it is intended to establish a legal basis to protect the rights of coastal and inshore fishermen and to contribute to sustainable development of coastal and inshore fisheries by prescribing the matters to be reported and the matters to be performed for such prevention and management.

3. Main contents

A. Establishment of master plan and implementation plan for the prevention and management of illegal fishing, etc. (Articles 5 and 6 of the Draft)

1) The Minister of Oceans and Fisheries shall establish a master plan every five years to prevent and manage illegal fishing, etc. systematically and shall establish and implement an implementation plan to prevent and manage illegal fishing, etc. every year in accordance with the master plan.

2) The city/provincial governor shall establish and implement an implementation plan to prevent and manage illegal fishing, etc. every year in consideration of the characteristics of the jurisdictional areas in accordance with the master plan.

B. Liability to operate ship location transmitter equipment for fishing vessels (Article 8 of the Draft)

Coastal and inshore fishermen and catch transporters shall operate ship location transmitter equipment for fishing vessels to meet the standards prescribed in the Fishing Vessel Act when sailing or fishing so that the locations of fishing vessels may be identified in real time. 

C. Report of catch performance and transshipment performance (Article 9 of the Draft)

1) Coastal and inshore fishermen shall report catch performance including fishing time, times of fishing operations, and catch by species and—if aquatic products stored in fishing vessels are transshipped on a catch carrier—the date and time of transshipment and catch by species to the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries; in case of entering the port after completion of fishing operation on the day of departure, the corresponding fishing performance and transshipment shipment shall be reported together with the report of landing performance.

2) An aquatic product transporter intending to receive aquatic products shall submit a transshipment plan to the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries before departure; in case of transshipment of aquatic products, transshipment performance including transshipment day/time and transshipment quantity by species shall be reported to the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

D. Designation of landing location and report of landing performance (Articles 10, 11, and 13 of the Draft)

1) The Minister of Oceans and Fisheries or the city/provincial governor may designate a landing place—which is a place where all or part of the aquatic products stored on a fishing vessel may be transferred to land—among trade ports, coastal ports, fishing ports, or ports, and landing of aquatic products in a place other than the designated landing place is prohibited, in principle.

2) Coastal and inshore fishermen landing caught or collected aquatic products shall report the landing performance including the landing place and total catch by species to the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

E. Issuance and delivery of catch confirmation (Articles 14 and 15 of the Draft)

The Minister of Oceans and Fisheries shall issue coastal and inshore fishery confirmation certificates to coastal and inshore fishermen who have properly completed operation of ship location transmitter equipment for fishing vessels, reporting of catch and transshipment performance, and reporting of landing performance, etc., and the coastal and inshore fishermen shall transfer the corresponding fishing confirmation certificates when transferring the caught/collected aquatic products to aquatic product distributors.

F. Issuance of fishing certificates, etc. (Articles 16 and 17 of the Draft)

A person wishing to export aquatic products who is requested by the exporting country to obtain confirmation from an administrative agency as to whether the exported products were legally caught may request issuance of the fishing certificate to the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, and a person wishing to import a specific foreign aquatic product shall submit the fishing certificate of origin of the corresponding aquatic product to be imported issued by the administrative agency to the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

G. Construction of an integrated coastal and inshore fishery management system (Article 18 of the plan)

The Minister of Oceans and Fisheries shall construct an integrated coastal and inshore fishery management system to manage the reporting status of catch performance, transshipment performance, landing performance and issuance status of catch confirmation, catch certificates, etc. systematically and, if required for the operation of the corresponding integrated system, may request submission of the data to the competent central administrative agency and local governments.