By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Jeju Island is enjoying an abundant tuna season due to warming seawaters.
Last Friday, the fish market in Busan had an ample stock of tuna, which were all over 70 centimeters long. Two fleets of mackerel vessels returned with more than 2,000 fish, of which 120 were more than one meter long and weighed more than 30 kilograms.
A tuna weighing 50 kilograms was sold for 1.35 million won. The market traded 4,000 tuna for 1 billion won Friday, one of the largest trading days ever.
Fishermen, dealers and even residents were surprised and said that they had never seen such abundant tuna before. ``It is actually the first time since the Korean fish market opened,'' Choi Gyeong-seok, the market representative, said.
The National Fisheries Research and Development Institute researcher said ``The schools of tuna were following the warm Black Current, passing by Jeju, when they were caught,'' a National Fisheries Research and Development Institute researcher said. ``These days, the waters are warmer ― about 17-18 degrees Celsius,'' he added.
The rush of fish is expected to continue as the temperature increase around the island is expected to continue.
A Jeju climate research center said it would monitor the damage the warming may have on the island and migration patterns of fish such as tuna.