South Korea's deep-sea fisheries output fell 8.9 percent on-year last year, though their export value grew markedly on a stronger U.S. dollar, data showed Sunday.
The output of marine products from the country's deep-sea fishing amounted to 399,778 tons in 2022, compared with 438,825 tons tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
In terms of value, the output went down 14.1 percent on-year to 1.13 trillion won (US$851.54 million), the data showed.
Exports of deep-sea fisheries products slid 4.8 percent on-year to 153,857 tons last year, but their value surged 28.7 percent on-year to 512.2 billion won due mainly to the weakening of the local currency, the ministry said.
Operating profits of the domestic deep-sea fishing industry jumped 35.2 percent on-year to 349.7 billion combined in 2022 on the back of the fall in their debt ratio.
The number of workers in the deep-sea fishing sector fell 16.2 percent on-year to come to 10,791, according to the ministry.
"The government will continue to devise supportive measures to help the industry's transition into a high value-added one," Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency