Acoustic-Trawl Surveys for Demersal Fisheries Resources in the East China Sea
A cooperative Korea-Japan investigation for the demersal fisheries resources of the East China Sea carried out by using the training ship Oshoro Maru belong to Hok-kaido University, Japan, during 1-8 November, 1991. The research vessel sampled 15 stations with demersal trawls on the East China Sea, and 1,364 nautical miles of track line were surveyed hydroacoustically. The hydroacoustic observations were taken with a scientific echo sounder operating at two frequencies of 25 kHz and 100 kHz, and a microcomputer-based echo integrator. Fish samples were collected by demersal trawling, and temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen were measured with a CTD system. The target strength of fish school was estimated from the relationship between mean scattering strength and catches caught by demersal trawling. The results obtained can be summarized as follows: 1. The mean backscattering strength for 15 layers occupied by demersal trawls at 25 kHz ranged from -70.4 dB to -59.1 dB. Then the catch per one hour ranged from 8.2 to 587.5 kg/hour. 2. The mean backscattering strength for the entire layer between transducer and seabed in the survey area of the East China Sea at 25 kHz and 100 kHz were -68.0 dB and -73.1 dB, respectively. 3. The mean fish-school target strength per one kilogram at 25 kHz and 100 kHz were -28.3 dB/kg, and -30.4 dB/kg, respectively.