Potential for offshore aquaculture development in North Korea: Focusing on Atlantic salmon farming

Abstract

This study investigated the potential for Atlantic salmon farming in North Korea. Farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are aquaculture products commonly consumed in East Asia, but they are not commercially produced in large quantities. One barrier to Atlantic salmon farming is that the marine environmental conditions (i.e., water temperatures) in much of East Asia are unsuitable. North Korea has recently initiated Atlantic salmon farming assuming it has appropriate locations for it. If North Korea indeed has suitable locations for successful Atlantic salmon aquaculture and the United Nations' sanctions were lifted, the country's Atlantic salmon farming project might have potential for successful inter-Korean economic collaborations. The current study analyzed North Korea's possible farming sites using remote sensing data, and it used those findings to evaluate the feasibility of inter-Korean Atlantic salmon fishery collaborations and to propose policy implications. Remote sensing information estimated sea surface temperatures and hydrodynamic modeling extended that to estimate the sea temperatures at various depths to precisely propose appropriate farming locations in North Korea. The results indicated that most of North Korea's sea surface temperatures were below 20 °C in January through June. However, the surface temperatures in July and August exceeded 20 °C, indicating unsuitability for Atlantic salmon farming during that period. The water temperatures at the 25-m depth were below 20 °C year round, and Atlantic salmon farming would be possible there using submersible farming technologies, such as plant-type offshore fish farming systems.