The rising sea temperatures in South Korea this summer have caused widespread fish deaths, resulting in losses for fish farmers and driving up seafood prices. At Seoul's largest seafood wholesale market, prices fluctuate daily. Tae Young-jin, who runs a seafood stall here, expressed concern over the unstable supply. "Last week I received 50 [groupers], this week only around 40. I used to give away some fish to customers, but with the soaring prices of flatfish and grouper, that's no longer possible. We are affected. The impact on consumers is even greater. The number of customers has been noticeably declining," he said. The prices of popular fish, such as mackerel, have also increased. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, the average retail price of mackerel on August 12 was about 3.6 U.S. dollars, up 30 percent year-on-year. Data from Statistics Korea reveals that seafood prices in July rose by 7.3 percent year-on-year, marking the second consecutive month with an increase exceeding 7 percent. "Fish prices are much higher than I expected. I feel burdened. I can no longer buy it casually. I came here for sashimi like flatfish or grouper, but the prices are too high," said a customer who feels the economic pinch. In July, the surface temperature of waters around the country reached 24.6 degrees Celsius, the highest in nearly a decade. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries reported that over 180,000 farmed fish have died due to the high temperatures as of August 10, since the first reported incident in late July. SHOTLIST: Seoul, South Korea - Recent 1. Seafood wholesale market; 2. Various of merchant taking fish from fish tank, making sashimi; 3. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Tae Young-jin, aquatic product merchant (ending with shots 4-5): "Last week I received 50 [groupers], this week only around 40. I used to give away some fish to customers, but with the soaring prices of flatfish and grouper, that's no longer possible. We are affected. The impact on consumers is even greater. The number of customers has been noticeably declining."; 4. Various of merchant taking fish from fish tank, making sashimi; 5. Various of people at market; 6. Various of fishes; people buying fish; 7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) customer (name not given) (ending with shots 8-9): "Fish prices are much higher than I expected. I feel burdened. I can no longer buy it casually. I came here for sashimi like flatfish or grouper, but the prices are too high."; 8. Various of fishes in tank; 9. Various of sashimi; South Korea - Recent 10. Aerial shots of fish farm; 11. Fishing boat; 12. Various of fish farm. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]