Chinese Fishing Boats Causing Collapse of Ulleongdo Squid Industry

It looks like the squid industry on Ullengdo is on the verge of collapse due to overfishing by Chinese boats:

Once abundant squid stocks in the East Sea have now almost been depleted by Chinese fishermen who operate in North Korean waters. This has caused tremendous hardship among fishermen on Ulleung Island, Korea’s most famous squid fishing point.

“Only five years ago the market was brimming with boxes of fresh squid every morning, but now we can no longer talk about it with any pride,” said 59-year-old trawler captain Lee Ju-hyuk.

The Jeodong market near the pier, where all the catch is gathered and traded, was one-third empty around 6:30 a.m. on Monday. But at this hour five years ago the catch was so abundant that people had to put spare boxes in nearby buildings.

Bright squid-lure lamps lit up the horizon off the island all night. When the boats arrived at dawn, workers cleaned the squid and middlemen bought and loaded them on their trucks.

But on Monday only about 30 middlemen and workers hovered around the fish collection point, and most of them had to turn back empty-handed. Around this time of year, squid used to be dried everywhere — on the seawall, in front of the door and on the tin roof of every household. Now that is history.

People here put the blame squarely on Chinese fishermen, who started fishing in northern waters in 2010.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.