In this study, we estimated the distribution density of giant jellyfish in coastal waters of Korea in 2023 and compared the occurrence of giant jellyfish over four years. In May, the giant jellyfish were mainly distributed in the waters of the Yangtze River outflow, and in July, they were highly distributed in the west of Jeju Island and near the south coast of Korea. In addition, when comparing the distribution densities of giant jellyfish in Korea over four years, both acoustic and sighting surveys showed that the highest density of jellyfish occurred in 2021.

In this study, we aimed to determine the seasonal distribution and biomass of fish in Samcheok marine ranching area (MRA) of Republic of Korea using the scientific echosounder. Fish trap and gillnets were used to identify fish species in the survey area, and dB-difference method was used to estimation the spatio-temporal distribution and density of fish. The results showed that the dominant species in Samcheok marine ranching area were Chelidonichthys spinosus, Sebastes inermis, Hexagrammos otakii and Tribolodon hakonensis. The spatio-temporal distribution of fish showed that fish had a relatively higher distribution at night than during the day. In addition, the density of fish by season was highest at night in July at 34.22 g/m 2 and lowest in April at 0.42 g/m 2 .

In this study, we used underwater acoustics to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of largehead hairtail (Trichiurus leptueus) based on the luminous thronging of metal halide fishing lamps and induction fishing lamps. As a result, the illuminating power was approximately 1.3 times higher using the metal halide fishing lamp whereas the density of hairtals by distance was approximately 1.9 times higher using the induction fishing lamp. Regarding water depth distribution, hairtails were detected depths of 25-30 m during August and at all water depths in November as assessed using fishing lamps.

This study investigated the methods of effectively removing noises in the acoustic data collected from the cold water zone of the East Sea, and converted that data into NASC values for comparison and analysis. First, the noises accompanying the acoustic data were divided into background noise, impulse noise, transient noise and attenuated signals according to the pattern characteristics. Then, the NASC values before and after noise removal were compared. As a result, the background noises were found to show the highest difference of 6,946 times in the NASC values before and after removal. The attenuated signals showed that the NASC values were higher after the removal.

In this study, Target strength for multi-frequency (38 kHz, 70 kHz, 120 kHz and 200 kHz) of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) was estimated using by the KRM model. The body shape of the Chub mackerel was described by an X-ray system and the body length of 20 individuals ranged from 16 cm to 28 cm. The swimbladder tilt angle ranged between – 8 and – 14°, the maximum TS value according to the swimming angle of chub mackerel was – 33.0 dB at – 11°. The averaged TScm according to fork length was – 66.02 dB at 38 kHz, – 66.50 dB at 70 kHz, – 66.00 dB at 120 kHz and – 67.35 dB at 200kHz, respectively.

In this study, the vertical distribution of giant jellyfish analyzed echo counting method and such survey methods as sighting and trawl were used to compare its density estimates. In May and July 2021, surveys were conducted in the East China Sea and the coastal waters of Korea. As a result, Nemopilema nomurai were evenly distributed in all water layers in East China Sea in May and July. When considered the correlation by each survey methods, it is possible to identify jellyfish in the surface area by sighting method and using sampling net; however, it has a low correlation with acoustic estimates due to marine environmental factor such as weather condition, wind and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the result can be utilized by basic data when estimating jellyfish’s distribution patterns and density estimates from each survey methods hereafter.