NIFS said that it held the 9th communication forum with leaders of seven local aquaculture fisheries cooperatives in Tongyeong, Gyeongnam on Friday, March 22. 

Since 2019, NIFS has held the forum regularly to deal with the pending issues at culture sites. Through the regular forum, it has identified and pursued research on the issues. 

The examples helpful to the culture sites were the ① Establishment of rearing standards for aquatic organisms, ② Pursuing projects for oyster spawning ground establishment, ③ Sea squirt harvesting and sorting device development, ④ Fishy smell removal technology for oyster, ⑤ Development of HMR (Home Meal Replacement) using oyster, olive flounder, red seabream, ark shell, etc. 

At the forum, NIFS and the leaders had discussions on the current issues of fisheries cooperatives by species, cooperation measures, and the latest aquaculture policy trends. 

With that, NIFS introduced its research achievements including fish breeding and its research directions. 

Moreover, the leaders called on NIFS to strengthen the function of its shellfish research team, to improve the approval system for transplantation of fish for release into fishing places, to detail the standard for damages by natural disasters, and to conduct research on utilization of sea squirt shell and sea squirt browning.