This study aims to suggest the methodology to improve to estimate back-calculated fish growth parameters using weighted average. It is to contribute to correct errors in the calculation of back-calculated growth equation with unequal numbers of sample by age. If the numbers of sample were evenly collected by age, each back-calculated length at age was equal between arithmetic and weighted averages. However, most samples cannot be evenly collected by age in reality because of different catchability by fishing gear and limitation of environment condition. Therefore, the estimation of back-calculated length by weighted average method is essential to calculate growth parameters. There were some published growth equations from back-calculated length using a simple arithmetic average with different numbers of samples by age when searching for back-calculated growth equations from 91 relevant papers. In this study, the process of deriving growth equation was investigated and two different average calculations were applied to a fish growth equation, for example of Acheilognathus signifer. Growth parameters, such as L∞, k and t0, were estimated from two different back-calculated averages and the growth equations were compared with growth performance index. Based on the correction of back-calculated length using weighted average by age, the changes by female and male were -14.19% and -5.23% for L∞, and 59.28% and 18.91% for k, respectively. The corrected growth performance index by weighted average improved at 7.05% and 2.46% by female and male, respectively, compared to the arithmetic averages.

We conducted experiments to compare the catch rate of bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna between circle hooks and straight shank hook in the Korean tuna longline fishery at the eastern and central Pacific Ocean from 2005 to 2007. We analyzed difference of fork length, survival and hooking location between a circle hook and a straight shank hook for both tunas, respectively. There was no difference in the mean fork length size of yellowfin tuna caught on the two type of hook but bigeye tuna was significant. In case of survival, there was no difference between two hook type, but the difference of hooking location was significant for both species. We also analyzed to find determinants of both tunas catch rate using generalized linear models (GLMs) which were used latitude, longitude, year, month, depth, hook type, bait type and so on as independent variables. Spatial factors, latitude and longitude, and temporal factors, year and month, affected catch rate of bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna. And also, depth such as a marine environment factor was influenced on catch rate.

The purpose of this paper is to provide useful information for fishermen in the manner of investigation a sinking speed of current type tuna longline gear at the North Pacific Ocean as a new developed tuna longline fishing ground. The sinking depth of mainline in connection with different basket was investigated. The experiments were also performed with different materials such as Supermansen (i.e., PE) and Hitech (i.e., PA) for the mainline to investigate the sinking depth of mainline and hooks. Furthermore, the relation between the sinking depth of hooks and catches are investigated also. The sinking depth of mainline at the first and the last shooting basket shows deeper than that of middle part of a basket due to reduced shortening ratio. The sinking depth of mainline and hook with Hitech material shows more shallow than that of Supermanse material, even the Hitech case was designed to sink deeper than that of Supermanse case. The highest catches arise at the middle part basket as the hook number 7 with around 248m sinking depth. From the results, longline with Hitech material is needed to increase the sinking force for reaching the relevant sinking depth. Moreover, the current strength at the North Pacific Ocean will be considered for further commercial fishing.

Ecological risk assessment(ERA), developed in Australia, can be used to estimate the risk of target, bycatch and protected species from the effects of fishing using limited data for stock assessment. In this study, we employed the ERA approach to estimate risks to tunas, billfishes, sharks, sea turtles and other species by the Korean tuna longline fishery in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean using productivity and susceptibility analyses of the ERA based on low(<1.30), medium(1.30-1.84) and high risk(>1.84). Albacore, bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack and bluefin tunas were generally evaluated in the medium risk. The susceptibility of tuna species, however, had higher risks than the productivity. Billfishes were also at medium risk, while sharks were at high risk by the tuna longline fishery. The risk of productivity was generally high, because most sharks caught by the tuna longline fishery have high longevities, i.e., over 10 years, including ovoviviparous species. Susceptibility, which is related with the selection of fishing gear, was also high, because the longline fishery has no gear modifications to prevent bycatch of protected species. Not only target tuna species were influenced by the tuna longline fishery in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, but also nontarget species, such as pomfret, mackerels rays, sea turtle were done. Ecosystem-based fishery assessment tools, such as productivity and susceptibility analysis(PSA), have the ability to provide broad scientific advice to the policy makers and stakeholders.

This study standardized catch per unit effort(CPUE) of the Korean longline fishery, which has been used to assess the status of stock as an index of abundance, for bigeye and yellowfin tunas in the Indian Ocean. The Generalized Linear Model(GLM) was used to analyze the fishery data, which were catch in number and effort data collected each month from 1971 to 2007 by 5 × 5 degree of latitude and longitude. Explanatory variables for the GLM analysis were year, month, fishing area, number of hooks between floats(HBF), and environment factors. The HBF was divided into three classes while the area was divided into eight subareas. Although sea surface temperature(SST) and southern oscillation index(SOI) were considered as environmental factors, only SST was used to build a model based on statistical significance. Standardized CPUE for yellowfin tuna showed a declining trend, while nominal CPUE for the species showed an increasing trend.

Data collected by on-board observers and from experimental surveys during 2004-2006 were analyzed to figure out the status of shark bycatch in Korean tuna longline fishery. Results obtained from 10 surveys indicated that 14, 13 and 1 species of shark were incidentally caught in Korean tuna longline fishery operated in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic (Mediterranean) Ocean, respectively, and that shark bycatch accounted for about 29-31% of the total catch. Sharks brought aboard were processed in 3 ways; out of 1,127 sharks observed, 575 sharks (51.0%) were discarded after finning, 299 sharks (26.5%) were stored frozen after finning for future use and 253 sharks (22.4%) were released into the sea immediately after caught. The fin to body weight ratio of sharks was estimated to be about 4.7% which is similar to the guideline of 5% established by the international fisheries organizations. The underestimate of shark bycatch in Korean tuna longline fishery was significant because it was general practice that fishermen on-board did not count the discarded shark as a catch.

To determine the relative efficiency and mesh selectivity of gill net for the Pacific saury, Cololabis saira, a series of fishing experiments was carried out in the Northwest Pacific Ocean from August 13 to October 13 in 2002, using gill nets of different mesh size(30, 33, 35, 37, 39 and 42mm) constructed from two kinds of twine material(monofilament, twisted multifilament nylon web). The relative efficiency of two material gears was expressed as the ratio obtained by dividing monofilament catch by multifilament catch in number. The master selection curve of each material gear was estimated by applying the extended Kitahara's method. The catch of experimental gears is mostly Pacific saury(98.6%), Cololabis saira. The kinds of bycatch are common squid(0.7%), Pacific mackerel(0.6%), etc. Catch comparisons in the two gears showed that monofilament nylon nets are 1.7 times more efficient. The optimum values in monofilament and multifilament gill net for Pacific saury are 8.28 and 8.23, respectively.