NIFS announced that it would join forces once again for the stock recovery of sailfin sandfish in the eastern coastal waters of Korea – which has seen the drastic decrease in catch recently - with the launch of Task Force (TF) team consisting of fishermen, local governments, related entities, etc. 

After 10-year efforts to recover the sailfin sandfish stock that we can enjoy only in the east coast during winter season, the biggest catch (7,497 tons) was recorded in 2016. Recently, however, the catch has decreased sharply. 

As of September 2024, particularly, the catch was 135 tons, which was 48.6% level compared to the same quarter of the previous year (278 tons) and 8.2% level to average year ('19~'23 1,646 tons). 

Under circumstances like this, NIFS launched the TF team for the swift and efficient stock recovery and to that end agreed to muster all-out efforts in multilateral analysis on the cause of decreasing catch. 

This year, sailfin sandfish was re-selected as major stock recovery species in MOF's stock rebuilding project.

And, in parallel, comprehensive surveys will be conducted, including close monitoring of water temperature during breeding and spawning time in the sea area where the project to create spawning ground for sailfin sandfish is conducted by the global headquarters of Gangwon State and the East Sea Branch of Korea Fisheries Resources Agency (FIRA). 

Also, with the help of fishermen from the Gangwon coastal gill net association, the team is going to collect the eggs of sailfin sandfish shown to be attached to the net, hatch the eggs in the incubator located in the ports, and release the young sailfin sandfish to the sea. 

In the TF team meeting on November 4, the current state of sailfin sandfish stock recovery was reported, and the public-private-academia-institute experts had discussions for exploring avenues for the stock recovery and future plans. There were also growing voice that more active measures should be prepared for the stock recovery, such as raising the limit of current prohibited length (11cm), setting the closed season, etc.