Multinational Seafood: How Climate Change Is Rewriting Korea’s Dinner Table

Seafood on our dining tables is becoming increasingly “multinational.”

Global abnormal climate phenomena are changing marine ecosystems, and with that, the main species caught in each fishing ground are also shifting. To cope with price fluctuations caused by changes in national catch volumes, large supermarkets and restaurant chains are diversifying both their import countries and the species they source. Norway, once known almost exclusively for mackerel, is now sending us rockfish, and cutlassfish is being imported all the way from Oman, where the fishing methods are similar to those in Jeju.

Of course, this is not an issue unique to Korea. In Japan, which we tend to think of as a “seafood superpower,” Japanese mackerel has become just as hard to find as Korean mackerel is here. So the old expectation that “if I go to Japan, I’ll be able to eat really fresh seafood caught just off the Japanese coast” no longer really holds true. On top of that, isn’t there always the concern about possible “radioactive contamination” of Japanese seafood? In that sense, the idea that “even in Japan, they’re importing and eating foreign seafood” might actually sound like welcome news.

So, where are you from?

As domestic mackerel prices surged, even Norwegian mackerel – once considered a good substitute – went into short supply, and Norwegian rockfish has stepped in to fill the gap. As of last October, domestic mackerel was selling at 12,131 won, 16.8% above the average price. Larger and cheaper Norwegian mackerel was being imported, but as sea temperatures in nearby Norwegian waters rose sharply, the mackerel catch in September fell 70% year-on-year. With catches dropping, distributors turned instead to importing rockfish. GS, which has been selling “trimmed rockfish fillets” since 2018, began selling “boneless rockfish fillets” last month as well.

To stabilize domestic seafood prices affected by changes in the marine ecosystem, overseas substitute species are also becoming more diverse. E-Land’s Kim’s Club began importing cutlassfish caught in the Arabian Sea near Oman in response to declining catches and rising prices of Jeju cutlassfish. Cutlassfish from Senegal or Morocco are already distributed in Korea, but because they are caught using large-scale trawl or net fishing, they often arrive with many physical injuries. Kim’s Club instead chose Omani cutlassfish, which are line-caught (the chaenak method, similar to Jeju’s hook-and-line fishing), as a substitute. To secure overseas ingredients more reliably, E-Land even established a direct-import subsidiary, E-Land Farm & Food.

As squid catches in the East Sea fluctuated wildly and prices spiked, squid even earned the nickname “golden squid.” In response, E-mart increased its imports of frozen Argentine squid by 50% compared to the previous year. Demand for relatively inexpensive Argentine squid has grown, and sales from January to October this year rose 43% year-on-year.

Sashimi is now also being made from fish caught overseas. Ahead of the holiday season, when prices for popular sashimi fish such as flounder and rockfish soared, Lotte Mart began selling Danish kingfish as sashimi-grade fish in June. Kingfish, known in Korea as bushiri, is considered familiar to Korean palates because its shape and flavor are similar to tuna.

Our seas under the influence of climate change

It is not only imported seafood that is changing what appears on our tables. Fish that used to appear only in certain seasons are suddenly being caught in huge numbers out of season, and species never before seen near our coasts are now showing up along the shoreline.

Common octopus, which normally disappears into deeper waters once winter arrives, recently saw an unusually large haul in November – the start of winter – in places like Gunsan in North Jeolla Province. Warmer-than-usual weather boosted catches. Lotte Mart explained, “When domestic octopus catches are low, we increase imports of Thai octopus by about 20%, and when domestic supply is plentiful, we expand domestic purchasing to help stabilize prices.”

Tuna, once thought to be available only through distant-water fishing, has been following warmer currents northward into the East Sea. As a result, consumers can now enjoy fresh domestic tuna instead of imported frozen tuna. Bongasushi, a sushi chain operated by Hyundai Green Food, used to serve sushi made from frozen tuna caught by distant-water fishing vessels and flash-frozen at sea. Now, it serves sushi made with fresh tuna caught in the East Sea. By avoiding the logistics costs of importing frozen tuna from distant waters, the company can offer tuna sushi at about 70% of the price of imported tuna. It certainly seems that climate change is reshaping our marine ecosystem.