A few weeks ago, I read a book named The Polar Bear Wants to Walk (???? ???? in Korean). It was a really interesting and well-written book about the effects of global warming. It illustrated the so-called ?Global Warming Tour? of the author Nam Jong Young. For your information, Global Warming Tour is traveling to actually experience the effects of global warming around the world. For example, the author goes to Churchill, Canada to observe the polar bears in danger, and visits Tuvalu to interview ecological refugees dealing with the rising sea level.  

           Yet what caught my attention was the last chapter of the book, which introduced the decrease of pollacks in the East Sea of Korea due to rising sea temperatures because of global warming. The catch of pollacks was over million tons in 2000. However, the population began to drastically decrease in 2001, and it is almost extinct in the East Sea. I actually traveled to the East Sea so that I could catch a glimpse and get to learn more about the problem.

           I visited Goseong in Gangwon Province, located on the northernmost shore in the East Sea, and visited various fish markets and pollack museums, and I learned that the problem mentioned in the book was quite serious. I learned that pollacks were no longer caught beginning in 2011, and most of them were now being imported from either Russia or Japan. Later on, visited various ports and watched fish boats, and learned that squid catches were also decreasing due to global warming. As a result, the price of squid had soared from 1000 won to 9000 won per squid, and I couldn?t eat it because of the high price.

           One the way home, I also visited Yongdaeri in the Gangwon mountains, which is renowned for dried pollacks. Surprisingly, they were still drying pollacks even though it wasn?t being caught in Korea any more. I also ate a meal that used dried pollacks at a nearby restaurant. However, it was shocking to learn that they were imported from Russia and just dried in Yongdaeri. I was also worried that we might face the same problems with the squids.

           After this trip, I felt that global warming is affecting our lives even in aspects that we do not know. I also felt that we should try much harder in order to stop it from getting even worse.

*I strongly recommend that you read the book that I mentioned above if you can read Korean. Sadly the English version is not yet available :(

(http://book.naver.com/bookdb/book_detail.nhn?bid=6075106)

-Picture Descriptions-

1. A graph that shows the decrease in the catch of pollacks. (Source: National Fisheries Research and Development Institute)

2. A photo of packaged dried pollack. It mentions that it is imported from Russia and dried in Korea.

3. A photo of myself taken at Goseong, Gangwondo.