FINFISH CULTURE IN DPRK

Yang Je Han *
Li Kum Sok **
Kim Yong Il ***

I. Introduction

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is blessed with abundant aquatic animals and plants, due to favourable natural and geographical conditions.

DPRK has an annually produced 3.5 million tons of marine products; 2 million tons of alaska pollack, 210,000 tons of sardine, 90,000 tons of anchovy, 700,000 tons of seaweed mostly Laminaria, Undaria, and Gracilaria. The above production has been achieved, thanks to steady efforts in laying solid foundations in the fishing and culture industry. Special efforts were made to build large, up-to-date and versatile fishing vessels and to introduce comprehensive mechanization of fishing operation.

As a result, 450-ton universal trawlers, 3,750-ton stern trawlers, 5,000 ton refrigerator-ships, over 10,000 ton class factory ships and other up-to-date fishing boats multiplied. DPRK has at present a powerful fleet capable of fishing freely inshore and in the open sea. Mariculture in shallow sea and fresh or brackish water cultures has developed rapidly in recent years.

Numerous fish-breeding stations are being constructed along the coastline. All state-run fisheries stations rear a variety of fish, including the Common carp (Cyprinus caprio), grass carp (Ctenopharyndogon idella), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), and the grey mullet (Mugil cephalus).

Every year the state-run fisheries stations rear over 100 million fry which are partly cultured in ponds, rivers, and lakes, and partly distributed to cooperative farms for culture.

In recent years considerable efforts have been put into the culture of seabass. Some seabass fisheries stations are under construction. They collect fry and fingerlings of seabass at the mouth of Daedong River which flows into the Korean West Sea. The species which is cultured is Lateolabras japonicus. It grows to 300–500 g in one year.

* Researcher, Freshwater Institute of Pyongyang, Sungho District, Pyongyang City, DPRK.

** Engineer, Seafarming Station in Rakwon, Rakwon Country, South Hamgyong Province, DPRK.

*** Fisheries Committee, Middle District, Pyongyang City, DPRK.

II. Rainbow trout culture

DPRK has tried to culture rainbow trout in netcages in shallow areas near the shore.

1. Advantages of sea netcages.

1. To save manpower and reduce cost of material and equipment for construction (e.g. 1 hectare inland culture needs 10,000 won, but 1 hectare culture at sea needs only 1,000 won. Won = currency of DPRK).

2. Shorter culture period. Rainbow trout grow faster when cultured at sea.

3. To reduce feed. Compound feed is needed in inland nursery, but small quantity of feed is needed in sea culture. There are many fish by-products available for feed, if rainbow trout netcages are set up near fisheries station. (For example, food cost: 1,500 won for inland culture, 450 won for sea culture).

4. Management. It is easier to manage sea netcages than inland culture structures.

5. Possible to increase products by 10–15% per unit culture volume.

2. Rearing of fry.

1. There are several species of rainbow trout in DPRK. The species cultured is Salmo iridus.

2. Conditioning fry to the seawater. There are many methods to acclimate broodstock to sea water.

Growth and survival is related to salinity level as shown below:

The salinity level for the first 10 days is increased as shown below:

The table below shows the culture cycle of 16,000 trout fry.

III. Conclusion

In order to increase the survival rate of the fry the following action should be taken:

• care in catching the spawners,
• removal of unhealthy fish,
• feeding at a rate of 0.5–0.8% of the body weight, and
• no interruption in aeration, and keeping temperature as stable as possible.

IV. Closing remarks

It has been a good opportunity to know each others experiences in marine and fresh culture seabass. We hope that we will all benefit from this training courses.