The East Sea is changing hands. Squid, the region's signature catch for decades, is disappearing, while tuna — once a rare visitor — is now landed in volumes large enough to exhaust fishing quotas. The abrupt shift in catch volumes is hitting consumer prices as well.
Retail prices for refrigerated large squid stood at 5,210 won per fish, up 15.4% from a year earlier, according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. (aT) on the 8th. Fresh squid retails at 3,952 won per fish, 2.3% above the multi-year average, while wholesale prices for fresh squid are running more than 38% above that benchmark.
Squid prices have more than tripled over the past decade. Industry officials expect upward pressure to continue in the second half of the year as damage from high water temperatures compounds shrinking catches.
Catch data supports that view. Squid landings along the East Sea coast of Gangwon Province fell from 6,232 tons in 2021 to 914 tons in 2024 — a drop of more than 85% in three years — according to data submitted by the provincial Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Bureau to Kang Jung-ho, a member of the Gangwon State Council representing Sokcho's second district. Landings rebounded to 2,759 tons last year but remain less than half of peak levels.
Nationwide squid output fell 28.7% from the same month a year earlier. Coastal and offshore squid catches have declined steadily since peaking at 226,000 tons in 2000, and the pace of decline has accelerated in recent years.
Warming waters have upended the balance of fish stocks. Squid fishing grounds form along the boundary where cold and warm currents meet in the East Sea, and that boundary has been pushed steadily northward as sea temperatures rise.
Surface water temperatures in Korean waters rose 1.44 degrees Celsius between 1968 and 2023. Observers also point to large-scale harvesting of Korean squid by Chinese fishing vessels operating in North Korean waters as a factor accelerating the decline.
Bluefin tuna landings along the Gangwon coast, by contrast, reached 438 tons in the first half of this year alone — hitting the catch quota ceiling — after totaling just 39 tons in 2021. That amounts to an elevenfold increase in only four to five years.
"Fishermen are at a point where it is nearly impossible to keep up with the pace at which fish stocks are shifting because of climate change in the ocean," Kang said. "Along with support policies for squid fishing vessels, securing larger quotas and expanding cold storage capacity are urgently needed to respond to the surge in tuna catches."
The price shock extends beyond squid. A pair of mackerel now costs 11,606 won, up 31.6% from a year earlier, while hairtail rose 7.8% to 14,171 won. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to release 20,000 tons of stockpiled seafood, including 1,700 tons of squid, ahead of the Chuseok holiday, though industry officials say short-term supply measures can only go so far in offsetting a structural decline in catches.
