Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Builders alarmed by suspended sea sand harvest
In this March 2017 photo, fishing boats carry banners protesting the sea sand harvest in waters off Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. Korea's sea sand harvest has been halted so far this year following fishermen's strong opposition, dealing a heavy blow to small and midsize ready-mixed concrete firms and builders. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
Construction companies are struggling to secure concrete, a key building material, as harvesting sand and gravel from the seabed has been suspended for the past 11 months due to opposition from fishermen, company officials said Sunday.
Sea sand is one of the core aggregates for making high-strength concrete, and its mixture determines the quality of concrete. However, the halt to the harvest has led sand yards to run out of stock and increased the prices of concrete.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the country's sea sand supply amounted to 28.59 million cubic meters in 2016, but declined quickly to 17.29 million cubic meters in 2017 and 8.26 million cubic meter last year. No sea sand has been supplied so far this year.
“There has been literally no sea sand left in sea sand yards across the country since September,” said an industry official, who declined to be named. “Last year's 8.26 million square meters was harvested at a site in the West Sea, whose harvesting has been halted since September.”
Korea has 39 sea sand harvesting firms and they rake in sands at four sites in Korea ― Ongjin County in Incheon, Taean County in South Chungcheong Province and two exclusive economic zones in deep waters off the west and south coasts.
The issue goes back to the second half of 2016, when the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (Suhyup in Korean) and a number of environmental activists started to raise complaints against sea sand harvesters. They claimed the harvesters' business is jeopardizing fisheries and damages the environment.
As harvesters and fishermen are failing to resolve their conflict and are clashing near the sites, harvesting at the four sites stopped one by one. The site at the South Sea was halted in January 2017, followed by the Taean site in March and Ongjin site in September that year.
Harvesters claim that “the argument by Suhyup and environmentalists that sea sand harvesting is jeopardizing fisheries is groundless.”
“Much research by universities and water resource authorities found that sea sand harvesting only has a minimal influence on fisheries, and harvesters rake in sands only at designated sites to contain environmental effects,” the official said.
“But the conventional idea that fishermen are victims and the public's negative views on construction materials are leading the government to side with the fishermen only, despite the material's extreme importance in people's lives.”
Though the government said it has not “officially banned sea sand harvesting,” it is apparently siding with the fishermen in its policies.
Fishing boats sail in a parade to protest sea sand harvesting in waters off Busan in this Feb. 15, 2017, photo. Korea Times photo by Jeon Hye-won
The land ministry, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Office for Government Policy Coordination has released a plan for the stable securing of construction materials on Dec. 28, 2017, cutting the share of sea aggregate in the country's total aggregate to 5 percent from 10 percent.
Following the sea sand harvest halt, the 2018 sales of sea sand harvest firms in Korea declined by 55 percent from a year earlier, according to Korea Aggregate Associations.
“Currently, almost all sea sand harvest firms near Ongjin are out of business,” the official said.
While sea sand harvesters are struggling, the sand price has also gone up to 24,000 won per cubic meter from 12,000 won in 2016.
The setback in securing sea sand is affecting the construction of a pier at Busan Container Terminal. The pier was scheduled to be completed in 2021, but now is expected to be delayed by 20 months due to the sea sand shortage.
“Big constructors manage their concrete and sand supply on a yearly basis, thus they are not heavily affected by the sea sand issue,” a construction company official said. “However, it will be a huge matter for small and midsize ready-mixed concrete firms and smaller constructors.”