Posco donates ‘sea forest’ to mark Ocean Arbor Day

Officials of Posco and Ulleung County release young fat greenling fishes into Posco's artificial reef called "sea forest" on Tuesday. (Posco)

Posco Group said Tuesday the company transferred the ownership of its completed “sea forest” -- an artificial reef constructed underwater off the coast of Ulleungdo, an island east of mainland Korea -- to Ulleung County, in a bid to celebrate Ocean Arbor Day, which is recognized on May 10 every year in Korea.

Built three years ago in Ulleung County, the sea forest is one of Posco’s corporate citizenship activities aimed at restoring the marine ecosystem and reviving the fishery industry.

Posco said it decided to relegate the authority to supervise the sea forest to Ulleung County, as they had observed a noticeable growth in abundance of algae and juvenile fishes over the three years they had installed the sea forest in Ulleung County.

At the relegation event, the group presented the progress and achievements of the sea forest construction project. Some 30,000 juvenile fat greenling fish donated by the North Gyeongsang Province Marine Resources Research Institute were also released into the forest, Posco said.

“We appreciate Posco’s concern for the decrease of fishery resources and the whitening event taking place in the Ulleungdo sea. We look forward to more joint regional projects in the future,” Ulleung Mayor Nam Han-kwon said during the event.

The forest, which covers 0.4 hectare, was made by installing 100 "Triton" artificial reefs made with Posco’s environmentally safe steel slag and 750 Triton blocks.

Over the past three years, Posco has regularly monitored ecological growth and transplanted algae to the forest. It now serves as a biodiverse habitat and breeding ground for over 18 species of algae and various types of fish.

On April 30, Posco was recognized as the first Asian company to win the Eco-Innovator award at the International Corporate Citizenship Conference at Boston College.

According to Posco, the company said it also plans on contributing further to the restoration of marine ecosystems and boosting fishers’ income by continuing to manage the sea forest and developing eco-friendly sea fertilizers using steel slags.

By Yu Ji-soo(jisooyu123@heraldcorp.com)