A tuna windfall turns into a tragedy on Korea’s east coast

On July 10, the pungent stench of rotting fish clung to the docks of Ganggu Port, in the eastern coastal county of Yeongdeok. Just two days earlier, local fishermen had hauled in an astonishing catch: 1,300 bluefin tuna, weighing a total of 130 metric tons. Some of the largest fish measured 1.5 meters and tipped the scales at 150 kilograms.

“It was like hitting the lottery,” said one stunned fisherman, recalling the moment the tuna were brought ashore. “We were all smiles.”

But the windfall quickly turned to calamity.

Despite the historic size of the catch, not a single fish could be sold. The entire load—estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of won—was declared over quota and had to be discarded. Over the next two days, local crews scrambled to dispose of the tuna, most of which were ultimately sold off as animal feed at a fraction of their potential value.

The incident, now referred to as the “Yeongdeok Tuna Tragedy,” has laid bare a growing tension between climate-driven shifts in fish migration and an international quota system that some experts say is too rigid to respond to a rapidly changing ocean.

Warmer seas caused by climate change—and a prolonged heat wave in the region—are pushing tropical species like bluefin tuna farther north, bringing them into Korean waters in record numbers. Local officials say the scale of the July 8 catch was unprecedented.

Just two days earlier, on July 6, another Yeongdeok fisherman landed 62 bluefins and sold them for 34.4 million won—roughly $25,000—with individual fish fetching as much as 550,000 won ($400) each. In February, a 314-kilogram bluefin sold for over 10 million won.

But bluefin tuna are tightly regulated under international conservation rules. South Korea’s 2025 quota, set by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), is 1,219 tons. That total is divided by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries among local governments.

Yeongdeok and neighboring Pohang were allocated just 53 tons. The broader North Gyeongsang Province received 110 tons. By the time the 1,300-tuna haul hit the docks, the regional quota had already been exhausted.

“I started getting calls at 7 a.m.,” said Jeon Sang-rok, a fisheries official with the North Gyeongsang provincial government. “When I heard the number—1,300 fish—I couldn’t believe it.”

Jeon quickly alerted the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, urging an emergency quota adjustment. After internal consultations, the ministry approved an additional 150 tons for the region. But the authorization didn’t arrive until 6 p.m.—too late to prevent spoilage. Most of the tuna, now rapidly decomposing in the summer heat, were unsalvageable.

Fishermen described the day as a cruel swing between fortune and loss. One boat owner likened it to “a disaster wrapped in a miracle.”

Bluefin tuna, once severely overfished, are now managed under stringent international rules to prevent extinction. Japan, which holds the world’s largest quota, is allowed to catch up to 12,828 tons in 2025. South Korea’s share has risen in recent years—jumping from 748 tons in 2024 after a 63 percent increase approved at the WCPFC’s December meeting.

But those increases have not kept pace with changing realities in Korean waters. The country’s bluefin catch rose from just 5 tons in 2020 to 168 tons in 2024—a 34-fold surge in just four years.

“The surface temperature of the East Sea has risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius over the past two decades,” said a researcher at the National Institute of Fisheries Science. “Even a one-degree change can dramatically reshape marine ecosystems.”

Still, under WCPFC rules, any fish caught in excess of quota must be discarded and cannot be sold or even released. Because bluefin rely on constant motion to breathe, they typically die within minutes of becoming trapped in fishing nets—rendering release impossible.

Fisheries economist Kim Do-hoon of Pukyong National University says that while the quota system remains crucial to sustainable fishing, the time has come to reexamine how it’s implemented in a warming world.

“It’s not realistic to expand quotas overnight, since they’re based on international negotiations,” Kim said. “But we need to begin scientific documentation of climate-driven increases in catch and communicate that data globally.”

For fishermen on the ground, the prospect of more discarded catches is a grim one.

“If nothing changes, the only ones making money will be the waste disposal companies,” said one vessel owner. “We’re catching fish we’re not even allowed to sell. That’s madness.”