NIFS announced that together with the domestic company Jeong Il (the distant-water ship owner) and U.S. NPRC they first confirmed that the Patagonian Toothfish (TOP) living in open seas of the Southwest Atlantic Ocean can travel distances of over 1,200 km through Pop-up Satellite Tag. 

In doing the research on life history and migration of Patagonian Toothfish, NIFS tagged a total of 50 specimens and released them in waters for two years('19-'20), and 44 were recaptured. 

As a result of analyzing the gathered data from Pop-up Satellite Tag, it was found that 88% (37 specimens) of TOP remained within 200 km all year round, 12% (5 specimens) traveled distances of over 200 km, 1 specimen out of which traveled distances of 1,200 km.

Compared to the 2018 research on TOP migration, which confirmed that TOP lives within 4 km of the release site, it is very meaningful to find for the first time that some TOP travel over 200 km over months, and one of them travels over 1,200 km (from the Southwest Atlantic Ocean to the Antatctic Ocean). The long distance travel reads a spawning strategy using the ocean currents from Antarctica.

＊The Patagonian Toothfish (TOP) is a commercially valuable demersal fish present in the southern hemisphere, mainly caught at 820-2,000 m depth in sub-antarctic. About 14%(4,300 tons) of the world's toothfish catches in the Southern Ocean and the Southwest Atlantic Ocean are from Korea, which the nation's third best performance in terms of exports in the agricultural and fishery products category in 2022 (value of production $90 million). There are two kinds of toothfish, one is Patagonian Toothfish (TOP) living in predominantly sub-antarctic waters and the other is Antarctic Toothfish (TOA) living in the Antarctic waters.

＊Pop-up Satellite Tag: The advanced research equipment developed for research on fish travel with water depth and temperature sensors built-in. It collects marine information while it is being attached to the fish body for a certain period and floats to water surface, transmits the information to the satellite after being separated from the body.