The Arctic Fisheries Regime and Its Implications to Korea

In the near future, the thawing of the Arctic Ocean will influence the fisheries by creating more fishing opportunities. The Arctic Ocean coastal states and other states like China, Japan, and EU have competitively established and announced their development policies for the Arctic including those related to fisheries. And it is no doubt an opportunity for the Korean fishing industries as well as those who are seeking new fishing grounds abroad due to diminishing fishing resources and forthcoming free trade regimes such as FTA and WTO/DDA. Despite the uncertainties in developing the Arctic fisheries and the lack of scientific data or statistics, the Arctic fisheries can become the center of world fisheries in the near future. The aim of this paper is to examine the current Arctic fisheries, their regimes and its implications, and to suggest objectives for Korean policymaking on the Arctic fisheries.