Around 60 people -from the concerned fishing communities of 13 administrative districts from Incheon to Jeonnam, local governments, the Korea Fisheries Infrastructure Public Agency, NIFS, etc.- engaged in the discussion to share different viewpoints and opinions. 

Manila clam, also called ‘the People’s clam’, has shown the persistent fall in the yields* after marking the highest record (approximately 84,000 tons) in 1989. Around 2010, in particular, the yields has fluctuated due to the changes in habitat environment and the hikes in the number of competitor species under climate change. In 2024, the yields fell by 49.1% to 22,000 tons, showing overall crisis of the industry.

*Provisional estimates of annual yields(tons): 83,843 tons (1989) → 38,909 tons (2000) → 36,248 tons (2010) → 45,755 tons (2020) → 21,547 tons (2024) 

The president of NIFS (Mr. Choi Yong-seok) said, “To ensure manila clam to keep being served on the Korean tables, NIFS will keep forging a flexible partnership between fishermen and concerned organizations. Going forward, we will also spare no effort to implement multi-level support including policy recommendation considering the feedback from the fields, institutional improvement, etc.”