Korean tuna purse seine fishery in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) began to operate in earnest in the early 1980s. Since then, the total catch has shown an increasing trend and the target species are skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacare) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). Based on the operational data of Korean tuna purse seine fishery from 2016 to 2020, the catch rates of target species (skipjack and yellowfin tunas) were analyzed by operation time for set types (free school and FAD sets). In the case of the free school sets, they were usually made from sunrise to sunset, and the catch rate was high before and after sunrise for skipjack tuna and before sunset for yellowfin tuna. On the other hand, for the FAD sets, more than 90% of them were made just before sunrise, and there were few operations during the daytime. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there are differences in the catch rate of skipjack and yellowfin tunas by operation time and by school type for Korean tuna purse seine fishery in the WCPO, which could be helpful in understanding its fishing characteristics and providing useful information for developing the stock indices of the target species.

Giant pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is a large mollusk distributed in the East Sea of Korea. In this study, the catch status of giant pacific octopus by drift line fishery and the effect of sea temperature on fishing ground were investigated in Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, which is the central coast of the East Sea. The average catch of giant pacific octopus in Gangwon-do was 1,570 tons over the past ten years, and it accounted for 21% in 2008 and 44% in 2021 compared to the total catch in the East Sea during the same period. Such data indicates that the catch in Gangwon-do has recently increased. In this study area, giant pacific octopus weighing 1.1-5.0 kg dominated accounting for 56% of the total individuals, and followed by those weighing 1 kg or less. However, the ratio of catch of giant pacific octopus over 5.1 kg tended to increase in 2021, which is thought to be related to the sea temperature that affected the fishing ground. The main depth of fishing ground was from 21 m to 50 m in this area and fishing grounds were widely distributed throughout the season except summer. Fishing ground was formed with the conditions of bottom sea temperature under 10℃ and was diminished by moving of giant pacific octopus to deeper depth with conditions of bottom sea temperature over 18℃.

Among the fishing vessels operating in the coastal waters, jigging fishing vessels were considered representative vessels engaged only by wind, sea, tide, and external force. Then, a fishing vessel with a length of shorter than 10 m from July 1, 2018 to August 5, 2019 was studied to obtain a drift prediction model by multiple regression analysis. In the correlation analysis between variables for leeway of speed and direction, the speed and direction of tidal seem to be the most affected in coastal waters. Therefore, it should be considered an explanatory variable when conducting drift tests. As a result of multiple regression analysis on the predicted equations of leeway speed and direction due to the external force on the drift of the fishing vessel, p < 0.000 was considered significant in the F-test, but the coefficient of determination was 55.2% and 37.8%. The effect on the predicted leeway speed was in the order of the tidal speed and current speed. In addition, the impact on the predicted leeway direction was in the order of the tidal speed and current speed.

Sea anchor for fishery is commonly used in jigging fishery and purse seine. The study of sea anchor was studied for improvement of opening efficiency and drag by changing the type of shape and the diameter of vent. However, standard specification of sea anchor is not set and has not been studied for underwater stability. Therefore, this study aimed to improve underwater stability of sea anchor by changing a vent diameter and weight of sinker. The experiment was conducted in flume water tank. The experiment model of sea anchor was made from actual model of sea anchor which is used in fishery by similarity law. The model of sea anchor was designed to different types of vent diameter and weight of sinker in different current speed. The value of movement of side to side (X-axis), drag of sea anchor (Y-axis) and movement of up and down (Z-axis) was measured for 30 seconds. Each value of X, Y, Z-axis was analyzed through t-test and ANOVA analysis to verify that each value had a significant difference according to the difference compositions. There was correlation between the movement of X-axis and Z-axis. The drag of sea anchor was stronger as the current speed increased. However, the larger the vent diameter, the weaker the drag. From the result of the standard deviation, the movement of X-axis was inversely proportional to the vent diameter. However, movement of Z-axis was larger as the weight of sinker was the heaviest or lightest from the result of the standard deviation. These results suggest that the sea anchor should be combined with proper size of the vent diameter and the weight of sinker to improve the stability.