Abstract
UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, a set of 17 objectives with 169 targets expected to guide actions over the next 15 years (2016-2030). One goal expressly focuses on the oceans, that is, SDG 14 'Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development'. More than 30% of fish stocks worldwide were classified by FAO(2016) as overfished. Globally, world capture fisheries are near the ocean's productive capacity with catches on the order of 80 million metric tons. Aquaculture production is increasing rapidly and is expected to continue to increase, but aquaculture encounters some environmental challenges, including potential pollution, competition with wild fishery resources, potential contamination of gene pools, disease problems, and loss of habitat. Accordingly, there have been a variety of world organization and conferences stressing the importance of the implementation of the ecosystem-based fisheries management(EBFM) to overcome these problems. Annual catch of Korean fisheries have shown continuously declining patterns since late 1990s. Most fish stocks are currently known to be over-exploited, and some stocks are depleted due to the increase in fishing intensity and over-capitalization of fishing fleets. Other reasons for the depletion are land reclamations and coastal pollution, which destroy spawning and nursery grounds along the coastal regions. Aquaculture production is also increasing rapidly in Korea. However, several important issues such as gene pool and interaction with capture fisheries should be considered. The EBFM approach should use the best available information coupled with a reasonable application of the precautionary approach. The EBFM has global relevance, and so the real challenge will be to develop and use reliable, robust and cost-effective means of assessing and monitoring the status of ecosystems and their resources, and rapid means of detecting any undesirable and excessive impacts that threaten sustainable use. Future fisheries education should take into account UN's SDGs, which were adopted to achieve the global 2030 agenda. However, there are some difficulties in the current fisheries education system in Korea. First, the current education organizations are limited within the old frame of traditional fisheries sciences. Second, the fisheries education is currently lack of the future-oriented education system and of customized schools or departments. Third, the on-going fisheries education has been based upon few educational policies which are sufficiently relevant to holistic SDGs of the global standard. Accordingly, directions to modern fisheries education for achieving SDGs would be, first, the transition of fisheries education structure into the future-oriented and customized education system. Second, fisheries education needs to shift to the new paradigm, which combines traditional fisheries science education with related fields such as oceanography and environmental sciences to adopt the concept of EBFM. Lastly, fisheries education should accompany relevant policies for effectively achieving SDGs.
