FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE,MOA,TAIWAN

There are 281 eel ponds in Korea, with a total surface area of up to 1,000,000 m2. Annual production of cultured eels was 10,000 mt in the early 1990s and decreased down to 7;000 mt in recent years. Fully-grown eels began to be imported from 1997 to fulfill the domestic demand and the amount of import was 3,086 mt in 1999. The culture techniques of eels are similar to those in the other eastern Asian countries. The eels are cultured in ponds in a green house. As winter is colder in Korea than in Japan and in Taiwan, water temperature is controlled by artificial heating during the cold months between October and April. About 10 mt of elvers were caught in the Korean estuaries in the early 1990s. This amount approximately corresponded to the need for the culture. Elver catch varied around 7 mt by the middle of 1990s. The catch amount sharply decreased down to 2 mt in 1998 during the EI Nino year, 5.6 mt in 1999 and 2.8 mt in 2000. Elvers began to be imported from 1995, and the import increased to 2.4 mt in 1999 and 4.2 mt in 2000.