Tongyeong’s Taehyun Kim Wins the Grand Prize for Outstanding Return-to-Fishing & Rural Settlement

[Consumer Times | Reporter Ahn Woo-jin] The Gyeongnam Return-to-Fishing & Rural Settlement Support Center of the Korea Fisheries Infrastructure Promotion Association (Director Jeong Do-seop, hereinafter the Gyeongnam Center) and Kim Tae-hyun of Tongyeong announced on the 7th that Kim had been honored with the Grand Prize in the “Outstanding Return-to-Fishing and Rural Settlement” category at the 2021 Outstanding Returnee Awards.

The 2021 Outstanding Return-to-Fishing and Rural Settlement Awards evaluate individuals who returned to fishing or rural areas within the past five years (after January 1, 2016), based on four criteria: policy utilization, management excellence, community integration, and contribution to regional development, in order to identify and honor exemplary cases.

Grand Prize winner Kim Tae-hyun previously worked as a researcher in the IT industry before returning to fisheries in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, in 2016. He engaged in cage aquaculture and focused on developing smart aquaculture technologies by integrating his IT expertise with ICT-based solutions.

Farming mainly rockfish, black rockfish, and striped beakfish, he cited the use of EP feed (extruded compound feed) and automated feeders as key factors behind the high growth rates of the fish and his successful settlement in fisheries.

He was also honored with the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Award, along with a prize of KRW 1 million, at the awards ceremony of the 2021 Return-to-Fishing and Rural Settlement Expo held at the aT Center in Yangjae, Seoul, from June 25 to 27.

Jeong Do-seop, Director of the Gyeongnam Center, stated, “We will provide full support at the center level to ensure that people who wish to return to fishing and rural areas in Gyeongnam, like Mr. Kim Tae-hyun, can successfully settle and thrive.”

Meanwhile, at the 2021 Return-to-Fishing and Rural Settlement Expo, the Gyeongnam Center provided key information on major industries and fishing village communities in the Gyeongnam region, along with professional consultation services, achieving a booth satisfaction rate of 94% marked as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” among consultation participants.