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Climate change hits regional events as fish fest postponed, blossom bonanza canceled

Published: 26 Nov. 2025, 07:00

Fishers unload freshly caught cod at the Oepo Port fish market in Jangmok, Geoje, in December 2014. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Rising ocean temperatures, shifting weather patterns and heavy rainfall linked to climate change are threatening local specialties across Korea — and the regional festivals built around them.

Geoje in South Gyeongsang recently postponed its 18th Cod Seafood Festival from December to January, the first schedule change since the event began in 2005. The festival has always been held in December, the peak of the cod season, when catches are normally the best. But officials said they faced the risk of hosting a cod festival without cod.

Local governments and fisheries experts warn that cod may not return to the waters off Geoje this December as sea temperatures remain well above the species’ preferred range. Cod favor cold water, spending much of the year in deeper seas and returning to coastal spawning grounds from late November. Those grounds, which include Jinhae Bay between Geoje Island and Gadeok Island in Busan, typically form when coastal temperatures drop to 5 to 12 degrees Celsius (41 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit).

As of Tuesday, however, waters near Geoje measured 16 to 17 degrees. Fishers say the lack of typhoons this year allowed clay to accumulate on the seafloor, preventing gravel beds — essential for spawning — from being exposed.

Cod hauls reflect the shift. According to the Geoje Fisheries Cooperative, catches fell from 167,922 fish between November 2021 and March 2022 to 123,842 the following year. The decline has accelerated: just 34,001 cod were caught in 2023, and only 10,368 last winter — a drop of nearly 94 percent in three years.

A promotional poster for the 17th Cod Seafood Festival held in Geoje in December 2024. [GEOJE CITY GOVERNMENT]

“Cod catches have been poor for several years, and we expect similar conditions this year, so we decided to hold the festival in January when the water temperature drops further,” said a Geoje city official.

“Because of high seawater temperatures, cod are unlikely to appear until mid-December, and even then the catch will probably be low,” said a representative of the Geoje fishers' association.

In South Jeolla, abnormal weather has also prevented autumn flowers from blooming, leading to a wave of cancellations and postponements of regional flower festivals. On Bakji Island in Shinan County, the Aster Flower Festival, the island’s signature autumn event, was canceled entirely after being postponed by about a month from late September.

Summer heat waves and heavy rains prevented the 240,000 aster plants planted in the island garden from blooming properly, prompting the first-ever postponement.

Purple aster flowers bloom on Bakji Island in Sinan County, South Jeolla. [SHINAN COUNTY GOVERNMENT]

“We delayed the festival due to late blooming, but the flowers still did not bloom, so we eventually canceled it,” a county official said. The county’s lilac festival, originally planned for mid-September, was also postponed to next year after the lilac die-off reached 25 to 30 percent.

In Gangneung, Gangwon, the city had considered canceling or delaying the Gangneung Coffee Festival in August due to an extreme drought, but with conditions easing, the event was held on Oct. 30 as planned.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY AN DAE-HUN [[email protected]]