Overfishing capacity has become a global issue due to over-exploitation of fisheries resources, which result from excessive fishing intensity since the 1980s. In the case of Korea, the fishing effort has been quantified and used as an quantified index of fishing intensity. Fisheries resources of coastal fisheries in the Korean waters of the East Sea tend to decrease productivity due to deterioration in the quality of ecosystem, which result from the excessive overfishing activities according to the development of fishing gear and engine performance of vessels. In order to manage sustainable and reasonable fisheries resources, it is important to understand the fluctuation of biomass and predict the future biomass. Therefore, in this study, we forecasted biomass in the Korean waters of the East Sea for the next two decades (2017~2036) according to the changes in fishing intensity using four fishing effort scenarios;  ,  , 0.5× and 1.5× . For forecasting biomass in the Korean waters of the East Sea, parameters such as exploitable carrying capacity (ECC), intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) and catchability (q) estimated by maximum entropy (ME) model was utilized and logistic function was used. In addition, coefficient of variation (CV) by the Jackknife re-sampling method was used for estimation of coefficient of variation about exploitable carrying capacity (CVECC). As a result, future biomass can be fluctuated below the BPY level when the current level of fishing effort in 2016 maintains. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as useful data to suggest direction of establishment of fisheries resources management plan for sustainable use of fisheries resources in the future.

Due to the decrease in coastal productivity and deterioration in the quality of ecosystem which result from the excessive overfishing of fisheries resources and the environmental pollution, fisheries resources in the Korean waters hit the dangerous level in respect of quantity and quality. In order to manage sustainable and effective fisheries resources, it is necessary to suggest the potential yield (PY) for clarifying available fisheries resources in the Korean waters. So far, however, there have been few studies on the estimation methods for PY in Korea. In addition, there have been no studies on the comparative analysis of the estimation methods and the substantial estimation methods for PY targeted for large marine ecosystem (LME) For the reasonable management of fisheries resources, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive study on the estimation methods for the PY which combines population dynamics and ecosystem dynamics. To reflect the research need, this study conducts a comparative analysis of estimation methods for the PY in the Korean waters of the East Sea to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and suggests the estimation method which considered both population dynamics and ecosystem dynamics to supplement shortcomings of each method. In this study, the maximum entropy (ME) model of the holistic production method (HPM) is considered to be the most reasonable estimation method due to the high reliability of the estimated parameters. The results of this study are expected to be used as significant basic data to provide indicators and reference points for sustainable and reasonable management of fisheries resources.

The purpose of this study is to estimate potential yield (PY) for Korean west coast fisheries using the holistic production method (HPM). HPM involves the use of surplus production models to apply input data of catch and standardized fishing efforts. HPM compared the estimated parameters of the surplus production from four different models: the Fox model, CYP model, ASPIC model, and maximum entropy model. The PY estimates ranged from 174,232 metric tons (mt) using the CYP model to 238,088 mt using the maximum entropy model. The highest coefficient of determination (R2), the lowest root mean square error (RMSE), and the lowest Theil’s U statistic (U) for Korean west coast fisheries were obtained from the maximum entropy model. The maximum entropy model showed relatively better fits of data, indicating that the maximum entropy model is statistically more stable and accurate than other models. The estimate from the maximum entropy model is regarded as a more reasonable estimate of PY. The quality of input data should be improved for the future study of PY to obtain more reliable estimates.

Coastal fisheries in Korean waters have highly complexity with a variety of fishing gears, and scale of those fisheries is smaller than that of offshore fisheries. As a result, important spawning and nursery grounds for many species of fish has been destroyed. The pragmatic ecosystem-based approach was developed for the assessment of fisheries resources in Korean waters by Zhang et al. (2009; 2010). As for the species risk index (SRI), common squid caught by coastal gillnet in the Uljin region had the highest risk. As for the fisheries risk index (FRI), coastal gillnet in the Uljin coastal waters had the highest risk. For the common squid which had the highest SRI, resources management strategies must be established such as catch prohibition of length and period with TAC. For the coastal gillnet in the Uljin region which had the highest FRI, it is judged to need management plans for conserving biodiversity as reducing the catch of non-target species and discards. Also to protect existing habitat, illegal fishery should be prohibited, and fishing gears should be designed in the environmental-friendly way considering when fishing gears lost.

This study was performed to estimate optimum fishing mortality (F) and the age at first capture (tc) for small yellow croaker in Korean waters. We first estimated optimum F and tc using traditional yield-per-recruit (YPR) analysis, and the results were 0.8/year and 2.5 years old, respectively. However, the individual fish price per unit weight of small yellow croaker in Korea increases dramatically by size. Thus, we developed an alternative method, which is called as production value-per-recruit (PPR) analysis. We developed two types of the PPR analysis, that is, the discrete function and the continuous function method. We estimated optimum F and tc using the two types of the PPR analysis and compared the results. The optimum F and tc from the discrete function method, were 0.3/year and 5.0 years old, respectively, while those from the continuous function method were 0.5/year and 3.5 years old, respectively. These PPR estimates were much more conservative for the stock management than the traditional YPR analysis, which can prevent the fish stock from the economic overfishing. As a result, the PPR analysis could be more proper approach for stock assessment in the case that the individual fish price per unit weight increases dramatically by size like small yellow croaker in Korea.