Topic: Protecting International Fisheries
Country: South Korea
Delegate Name: Hannah Kuhlmann
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All South Korea position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
In 2014 over 80 billion fish were harvested. The rate has increased ever since. There are many problems with fishing industry that South Korea wants to improve. The FAO did a study and found that more than 30% of of fish stocks are being harvested at an unsustainable rate, this rate has not shown any improvement. This proves that there are problems in the fishing industry. To add to that, many fisheries do not report all of the fish that they catch so they can “meet the requirements” even though they are catching a lot more. At the rate that things are going, fish could easily go extinct. This is a great example of tragedy of the commons. Most fisheries are taking complete advantage of the open oceans. This public resource, fish, has been over harvested by companies that have their mindset on money and not on the environment. These fisheries do not understand that harvesting one species has the potential to ruin the whole food web. Another problem with fisheries is that they are not only harvesting fish. Whether it is intentional or not, they also harvest other animals. Thousands of dolphins a year lose their live to fisheries and the same goes for sharks. This number may not seem big, but with Japan killing these almost extinct animals it is a big number. The nation of South Korea wants to change this issue. We believe that the Fishery Act of 1897 needs to be replaced or changed a lot. It needs to ensure that fisheries follow the rules and they need to have great consequences if they do not.
