South Korea's fisheries output decreased 0.6 percent in the first six months of the year from a year earlier due mainly to sluggish deep-water and coastal catches, government data showed Wednesday.

Fisheries production amounted to 2 million tons in the January-June period, down slightly from the previous year's 2.01 million tons, according to data from Statistics Korea.

Deep-water fishing plunged 41.3 percent on-year to 208,000 tons, while fish caught in coastal waters fell 15.6 percent to 363,000 tons over the cited period.

Meanwhile, output from fishing farms jumped 16.6 percent on-year to 1.4 million tons.

The statistics office said that a drop in both inshore and offshore fisheries output also dragged down the estimated value of the catches in the first half.

The total value of fish output stood at 3.34 trillion won ($2.94 billion) in the six-month period, down 1.8 percent from 3.4 trillion won for the first six months of 2015, according to the data. (Yonhap)