Species composition and seasonal variation of aquatic organism at Baekryeong-do, Korea were investigated using pots in 2016. A total of 42 species, 90,050 individuals and 2,351,666 g of aquatic organism were collected. Among them, there were 12 species and 3,826 individuals of fish, 15 species and 51,237 individuals of crustaceans, 2 species and 54 individuals of cephalopods, 7 species and 33,981 individuals of gastropods, 2 species and 757 individuals of echinodea, 2 species and 187 individuals of shellfish, and 1 species and 8 individuals of holothuroidea. The dominant species in number of individuals were Pagurus ochotensis, Neptunea cuming, Cancer gibbosulus, and Buccinum yokomaruae, which accounted for 70.0% of the total number individuals collected. The dominant species in biomass were Neptunea cuming, Portunus trituberculatus, Cancer gibbosulus, and Pagurus ochotensis, which accounted for 65.3% of the total biomass collected.

Maturity and spawning of the pointhead flounder, Hippoglossoides pinetorum were investigated on the basis of samples collected in the coastal waters off Gangwon-do, East Sea from January 2012 to December 2013. The average total length of H. pinetorum was 25.0 cm and 21.9 cm for females and males, respectively. The spawning period was from May to July according to monthly changes gonadosomatic index (GSI) and maturity stages. The spawning period in Gangwon-do was delayed relatively to that in Gyeongbuk-do. The mature egg diameter ranged between 300-700 ㎛. The relationship between TL and fecundity (F) was F = 63.574 TL - 1471.3 (R2=0.7603), that is, the larger total length, the more fecundity H. pinetorum had. We estimated that the TLs at 50% group maturity were 25.6 cm for females and 19.9 cm for males. The spawning ecology by sea area should be considered efficient resource management for H. pinetorum. Furthermore, it is necessary to study more on the relationships among growth, maturity and water temperature variations in the East Sea.

The ichthyoplanktons were sampled to study distribution of the ichthyoplankton in coastal waters of Nanji-Island in August and November 2015 and January and May 2016. During the study, fish eggs of eight different species were collected. Engraulis japonicus was the most dominant species which accounted 44.80%. Sebastes schlegeli comprised 31.39% of the total larvae and juveniles. The diversity index of species per month of the collected juveniles at Nanji Island from 2015 to 2016 was 0.598-1.770 and the evenness index was 0.432-0.761. In case of dominance index was 0.619-0.897 against the evenness index. The analyzed species diversity index by the each station was 0.818-1.945 and the dominance index was 0.492-0.897 against the species diversity index. The months of August and May exhibited similar results. In addition, the community structure was very similar in state 2 and state 3.

The objective of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the influence of the netting hanging ratio on fishing performance of gillnet. A total of six tests was carried out using three kinds of gillnets with different horizontal hanging ratios (0.3, 0.5 and 0.7) on the basis commercial gillnet of mesh size of 60 mm used in Yeosu Dolsan. As a result of the test fishing operation, catches of the net with hanging ratio 0.3 and the shortest float length was 1.34 times larger than the net with hanging ratio 0.7. The caught species in experimental testes was lager in the net with hanging ratio 0.3 than the net with hanging ratio 0.7. The catch rate per unit area (CPUE) is on the silver croaker with the largest catches in tests as follows. The net with hanging ratio 0.3 net was 89.45 g/m2, hanging ratio 0.5 net was 41.63 g/m2, and hanging ratio 0.7 net was 24.50 g/m2. The net with hanging ratio 0.3 (float line length of 45 m) exhibited the largest CPUE value.

In this study, the conventional cylinder-shaped lower bar on the canvas was modified and its performance was tested to improve the opening force of the stow net on anchor. The improved new lower bar used in the test is consisted of 13 flat bars with a length of 1.8 m, a width of 0.075 m and a thickness of 4 mm, and a pipe with a length of 2.0 m and a diameter of 50 mm. A stow net with the improved lower bar and a stow net with an existing lower bar were installed underwater and their trajectories for 21 hours were examined. To confirm their trajectories, GPS loggers were attached to the buoys on the left and right canvases and the buoy of the hauling rope. As a result of the test, the rotation of the gear with the improved bar was smoother than that with the existing bar. As a result of comparing the changes in the interval of the buoys attached to the canvas after the low and high tide, the buoy spacing of the gear with the improved bar is wider than that of the conventional gear; moreover, the larger the interval, the smoother the rotation of the fishing gear was. Therefore, it is considered that using the improved lower bar can enhance the performance of the stow net.