Fishing pots are one of the important fishing gears in our coastal and offshore fisheries. In terms of a sustainable use of marine resources, there are concerns about the ghost fishing by lost pots. It is reported that 10 to 70% of the pots are abandoned or lost annually. This study is to compare the catching efficiency of drum type whelk pots that are made of biodegradable nets to those made of the ordinary nets, in the eastern coast of Korea. Five types of drum pots were used with combination of biodegradable nets and ordinary (PA, PE) nets applied to the main and funnel parts of the pots: pots with biodegradable nets (Bio+Bio); pots with PE net (PE+PE); pots with body and funnel made of biodegradable nets and PE nets respectively (Bio+PE); pots with body and funnel made of PE nets and PA nets respectively (PE+PA); pots with body and funnel made of PE nets and biodegradable net respectively (PE+Bio). Field experiments were conducted from June 18th, 2015 to August 7th, 2015 using a commercial fishing vessel in the Uljin waters on the eastern coast of Korea. Two fleets of pots with one hundred in each, 20 pots of each type, were casted for 8 to 15 days to analyze their catching efficiency. The catch of target species, whelks, was 202,563.0 g with catch rate of 38.7% of the total catch, while the bycatch was 320,709.7 g with the rate of 61.3% of the total catch. The catch of whelks was the highest in the Bio+PE pots (46,020.3 g), followed by the Bio+Bio pots (42,027.5 g), the PE+Bio pots (41,849.9 g) and the lowest being PE+PE pots (38,054.2 g). Compared to the conventional pots, the pots with biodegradable nets on the body or entrance part had slightly higher catch rate for both the target species and the bycatch. The PE+PE had the lowest catch rate. There is no significant difference in catch between the pots with biodegradable nets and the ordinary nets for the target species such as Buccinum opisthoplectum, Neptunea eulimata, Buccinum striatissimum. Consequently, using biodegradable nets for the conventional whelk pots can reduce ghost fishing by lost gears while keeping the performance of the pots.

Experiment was set up to analyze bycatch and discards situation including snow crap Chionoecetes opilio of whelk trap. Four types of trap were used: drum type trap with PE net; drum type trap with PBS net; cylinder type trap with PE net; and cylinder type net with PBS net. Three funnels were attached in drum type trap and two funnels were used in cylinder type trap. A fleet of traps was consisted with one hundred traps. 25 traps of each type were set on a line in repeated sequence. Field experiments were conducted with 6 fishing operations in the Uljin waters, East Sea in July 2014. Catch of target whelks were 173,261 g and catch rate was 48.7% of total catch, while bycatch were 182,571 g, 51.3% of tatal catch. The catch rate of bycatch was 2.6% higher than that of target catch. Bycatch weight of snow crap was the highest as 142,987 g and formed about 40.2% of total catch, followed giant octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, 31,762 g (8.9%). Bycatch rate of cylinder type trap was 2.3 times higher than that of drum type trap. Discard rate (discard/(discard+landing)) was 43.6%. Discard rate was the highest at cylinder type trap with PBS net as 63.1%, followed cylinder type trap with PE net as 47.9%, drum type trap with PE net as 33.4%, the lowest at drum type trap with PBS net as 22.1%.

서해안의 연안성 어종인 쥐노래미는 백령, 대청 근해에서 주요 어종의 하나로 주로 통발에 의해 어획되고 있다. 쥐노래미 어업이 지속적으로 유지되기 위해서, 소형어를 보호하는 효율적인 어구 사용과 현재 정해져 있는 망목크기가 적정한가를 파악하기 위하여 망목선택성 실험을 하였다. 쥐노래미 통발에 대한 망목선택성을 Kitahara의 방법에서 객관성이 있도록 선택성 곡선을 다항식이나 로지스틱 곡선식을 이용하여 구하고, 쥐노래미의 최소성숙체장에 대한 적정망목크기를 구하였다. 통발의 경우, 선택성 곡선(마스터 곡선)을 구할 때 적용한 다항식은 삼중자망에서와는 달리 어체가 큰 부분에서 보정치가 지나치게 작용하여 선택성 곡선을 신뢰할 수 없었고, 로지스틱 곡선이 보다 합리적이었으며, 그 식은 다음과 같았다. s(R) =(equation omitted) 쥐노래미의 최소성숙체장은 21.4㎝로 알려져 있으며, 이 최소성숙체장에 대해 50% 어획될 확률 (L<SUB>50</SUB>)이 되는 망목크기는 37.0㎜이었다. 현재 통발의 망목크기 제한은 35㎜로 규정되어 있는데 쥐노래미의 경우에 다소 작으나 큰 차이는 없는 것 같다.