Exploring South Korea’s Ocean Economy : the Korea National Ocean Economy Survey 2017-2019

Seokwoo Jake Choi,Kwang Seo Park,Gi-Su Kim,Ju-Hyeoun Kim

doi:10.15351/2373-8456.1146

Abstract

As the economic contribution of the ocean and fisheries industry increases, it is essential to identify industrial characteristics and propose specialized strategies based on data. However, there has been a lack of research on the establishment of an industrial classification system that reflects the characteristics of the ocean and fisheries industry in South Korea. Therefore, this study aims to introduce the specialized classification system of the ocean and fisheries industry and, further intends to analyze industry trends using the survey data based on the classification system. For the past three years (2017-2019) 9,000 businesses were surveyed annually to estimate industry revenues, number of businesses and workers, annual labor costs, and business outlook. As a result, this study proposed the need for government support for the shipbuilding and offshore plant construction & repair industry which has great economic ripple effects, and the need to strengthen the labor supply chain of the fishery industries that are easily affected by external shocks.

Highlights

There has been a growing interest in the ocean, which is a rich repository of natural resources, and assessments of the ocean economy and ocean assets have been conducted worldwide
Regarding the number of businesses in the ocean and fisheries industry as of 2019, the ocean and fisheries related services industry accounted for the largest portion at 35.5%, followed by the fishery production industry and fishery distribution industry at 25.8% and 24.5%, respectively
In the case of employment, the numbers of workers in the fishery production industry and ocean and fisheries related services industry were higher compared to other industries

Summary

Introduction

There has been a growing interest in the ocean, which is a rich repository of natural resources, and assessments of the ocean economy and ocean assets have been conducted worldwide. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, 2015) estimated the global ocean asset value at $24 trillion, with an annual gross marine product of at least $2.5 trillion, about 5% of the world’s GDP. The OECD (2016) announced that the total economic output of the ocean economy in 2010 was $1.5 trillion, accounting for 2.5% of world gross value added (GVA), and it will reach $3 trillion by 2030, more than double the 2010 level. The GVA of the US ocean economy as of 2018 was $372.8 billion, which is 1.9% of the national GVA (CBE, Ocean Economics Statistics Data), and the GVA of China’s 2020 ocean economy was $1.23 trillion (8 trillion Chinese yuan), accounting for 1.9% of the added value of all industries (China Oceanic Information Network, 2021). The GVA of the EU's ocean economy as of 2018 is €176.1 billion, which is 1.5% of the added value of all industries (European Union, 2021)

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