Analysis of Economic Effect on Sea Cucumber Fry Releasing Program in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea

This study aimed to analyze of economic effect on sea cucumber fry releasing program in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. Since the early 1970s, various fishery resource enhancement initiatives, such as marine afforestation, sea ranching, and fry releasing programs, have been promoted. Among these, the fry releasing program has recently been implemented as a key strategy to increase fish stock biomass. However, few studies have evaluated its economic effect. Therefore, this study assessed the economic feasibility of the sea cucumber fry releasing program using the benefit/cost ratio method, based on data from field surveys and genetic analysis. The period range of the analysis for the fry releasing program was from 2019 to 2022. As a result of the analysis, we found that there was no economic feasibility of the program in 2019. But the benefit/cost ratio was estimated to be 3.13 in 2020, 1.28 in 2021 and 1.15 in 2022, indicating that the fry releasing program was evaluated to be economically feasible.