The value of South Korea's fisheries output reached a record high in 2023 but the aquaculture sector reported a marked fall in its production value on high water temperatures and weak demand, the statistics agency said Friday. Total fisheries output amounted to 3.68 million tons last year, up 1.88 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. In terms of value, production grew 0.4 percent on-year to 9.29 trillion won (US$6.98 billion) in 2023, reaching an all-time high. Coastal fishing output advanced 7.6 percent on-year to 955,000 tons, and its value also gained 8 percent to 4.37 trillion won in 2023. The deep-sea fishery sector also saw a 2.7 percent growth to 11,000 tons, but its value shed 2.4 percent to 27.1 billion won. Aquaculture production lost 0.2 percent to 2.27 million tons and its value tumbled 7.3 percent to 248.7 billion won due mainly to rising water temperatures and falling prices amid dwindling demand, the agency said.