S. Korean, Japanese institutes to tie up for research on freshwater life

SEJONG, April 20 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean research institute on freshwater organisms and biodiversity conservation said Thursday it will sign a business pact with Japan's Lake Biwa Museum this week to push ahead with joint research, education and exhibitions on freshwater animals and plants.

The state-run Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources will tie up with the Japanese research center on Friday when officials hold a joint seminar at the South Korean research institute located near the Nakdong River in southeastern South Korea.

Under the pact, the two institutes will promote information exchanges, research and development, and exhibitions on freshwater life, and share the results of such research and major achievements that could help develop the future life industry.

At the seminar, researchers from Lake Biwa Museum will present studies on the hybridization, or the interbreeding of species, between two kinds of salmon inhabiting the largest freshwater lake in Japan and the ecology of the freshwater cormorant, a waterbird.

Researchers from the South Korean institute will give presentations on studies about fungi living in freshwater, and the development of cosmetics using freshwater animals and plants.

The Lake Biwa Museum, located in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture in western Japan, carries out a variety of studies around the ecology of creatures living on the lake. The name of the lake is believed to be so named because of the resemblance of its shape to that of the "biwa," a four-stringed Japanese lute.

Ahn Young-hee, head of the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources, said that with the formation of a business pact, the institute will make efforts to enhance its research capabilities to a level on par with those of advanced institutes worldwide and catapult itself to one of the world's top-notch freshwater creature research institutes.

namsh@yna.co.kr
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