There are 281 eel ponds in Korea, with a total surface area of up to 1,000,000 m2. Annual
production of cultured eels was 10,000 mt in the early 1990s and decreased down to 7;000
mt in recent years. Fully-grown eels began to be imported from 1997 to fulfill the domestic
demand and the amount of import was 3,086 mt in 1999. The culture techniques of eels are
similar to those in the other eastern Asian countries. The eels are cultured in ponds in a green
house. As winter is colder in Korea than in Japan and in Taiwan, water temperature is
controlled by artificial heating during the cold months between October and April. About 10
mt of elvers were caught in the Korean estuaries in the early 1990s. This amount
approximately corresponded to the need for the culture. Elver catch varied around 7 mt by
the middle of 1990s. The catch amount sharply decreased down to 2 mt in 1998 during the
EI Nino year, 5.6 mt in 1999 and 2.8 mt in 2000. Elvers began to be imported from 1995,
and the import increased to 2.4 mt in 1999 and 4.2 mt in 2000.