The Korean stow net is a fishing method that utilizes the changing direction of the net entrance with the tidal current. This study attempted to obtain basic data from the recent offshore stow net fisheries to improve the gear by analyzing the dynamic behavior of the nets affected by current speed and direction using computer simulations. A numerical calculation was performed at a current speed of 0.5 knot between 2.5 knot at each 0.5 knot. The time taken for the gear opening was the longest from 0.5 knot at 1,500 seconds and the shortest from 2.5 knot at 450 seconds in the simulations. In all cases, the net width and tension at net deployment gradually decreased as the current speed decreased. However, the net height tended to increase inversely proportional to the current speed. During the net rotation, the net height was maintained at all cases. The net width and tension fluctuated, but the regularity was very low. In this study, the calculated simulation data showed that the opening efficiency decreased proportional to the current speed. The opening efficiency is related to the catching efficiency; therefore, it is necessary to improve the gear to enhance its opening efficiency.

The research was analyzed the catch data of the five years (2016-2020) for six joint venture company tuna purse seiners in the Atlantic Ocean, with the aim of suggesting improvement measures for responsible and sustainable fishing according to changes of recommendation by International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) on the tropical tunas. In the last five years, the average catch of six tuna purse seiner gradually increased to 7,745 tons, 8,364 tons and 9,053 tons from 2016 to 2018, but decreased to 7,761 tons in 2019 and 6,214 tons in 2020. The reason for the decrease in fishing volume in 2019 and 2020 was the fluctuation of the formation of the cold water zone (22-23℃), and the total ICCAT convention area of FAD closure in January and February due to the expansion of the FAD closure area and poor free school catching during two months period, respectively. The analysis on fishing area showed that the percentage of fishing in the high sea was about 85% although the FAD closure area included the EEZ zone in coastal countries; the rise of the fishing license in coastal countries is also believed to be a factor. In order to overcome such situations and improve catching volume, it will be possible if excellent manpower is secured, school fishing is expanded, and the production of high value-added catch (purse seine special: PS).

The breakdown of the Korea-Japan fishing negotiations since 2016 has made it impossible for many domestic fishing vessels to operate in the Japanese EEZ water, and large purse seine fishing vessels are one of them. Mackerel is a highly migratory fish species, circulating in the East China Sea, South Sea, West Sea and East Coast throughout the year, and goes through a period of wintering, spawning, growth and feeding migration. In this study, in order to find out the dependence of large purse seine fishing vessels on mackerel fishing in the Japanese EEZ waters, we analyzed the characteristics of mackerel by large purse seine fisheries in the Japanese EEZ waters from 2010 to 2016. The catch and fishing details were investigated. The total catch of mackerel by large purse seine fishery, the average catch rate of mackerel in Japanese EEZ is 4 percent per year. The amount is estimated at 10.2 billion won per year. Although there was an effect, it was not judged to be a significant factor, and it was found that the amount of catch and fish price in the domestic waters had a greater influence on the total catch than the Japanese EEZ waters.

Trawl fishing is a fishing method in which a large, motorized trawler tows a bag-shaped net to catch fish living at the bottom or middle layers. For a trawl gear, it is of utmost importance to select the gear size and towing speed suitable for the effective horsepower (EHP) of the trawler in the design stage. In general, the power required to move an object is proportional to the product of the object speed and resistance; therefore, there are various choices for the gear resistance and towing speed given the effective horsepower of the trawler. However, there have been few studies on the gear design of an appropriate scale for the towing speed given the effective horsepower of the trawler. In this study, the resistance and shape of three types of midwater trawl gears were analyzed using SimuTrawl, a computer simulation tool. In addition, the relationship between the propulsion force and speed of the ship was clarified when the size and effective horsepower of the trawler were determined. Finally, we suggested the relationship between the towing speed and the resistance of the gear when the trawler towed the net was investigated, and a specific method of selecting the gear size according to the towing speed.

In this study, the risk factors of coastal purse seine fisherman were analyzed through a survey of fishery workers of coastal purse seine fishery and the accident compensation insurance data of the fisheries workers of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC). The classified fishing operation accident data was analyzed through 4M (Man, Machine, Media, Management) model of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the accident prevention measures were presented using Harvey's 3E (Engineering, Education, Enforcement) model. The rate of accidents on coastal purse seinens each year was 75.8‰, 36.7‰ and 74.8‰ from 2015 to 2017. The accident frequency resulting from slipping was the highest, and the risk of a contact with gear was low. When comparing each insurance data, the average value of the contact with gear accident was the highest. This research result is expected to be important data in identifying and preventing safety hazards of coastal purse seiner fisherman in the future.

In fisheries, the importance of designing efficient fish cages is being emphasized as aquaculture has become more production than capture fishing. Particularly, the gravity cage system is one of the popular fish cage system in Korea. Currently, gravity cages of various shapes and sizes are being widely designed and installed in offshore and inland seas. The cage is subject to external forces, such as currents and waves, and the shape of the structure and tension on the ropes changes according to these external forces. Thus, it is important to accurately calculate these dynamic behavior, including the external forces and tension on the structure during the design stage. In this study, three types of cage systems with an equal internal volume of 8000 m3 were analyzed using mass-spring models and their behavior was interpreted through simulations. These simulations were used to analyze the behavior and tension of the ropes in response to currents and waves to aid in the selection of individual cage sizes for a given total volume. The numerical calculation results indicate that depending on the flow rate, the most resistant system is System 1, which has eight strays, and System 2 and System 3 have 69.4% and 54.8% of the resistance of System 1. Further, total resistance increased as the number of cages increased for all flow rates.

In the previous study, a shooting trajectory assuming that the purse seine shooting trajectory is a circle was proposed based on the speed and direction of the movement of the fish school. However, in practice, a trajectory that is closer to an elliptical shape than a circular one is often formed. In this study, the existing circular trajectory and the elliptical trajectory methods were compared under the same conditions to confirm the effectiveness of elliptical shooting trajectory. In addition, changes in the eccentricity of ellipses were derived to assess which type of ellipse was appropriate as a shooting trajectory. When a high-speed fish school moves in a straight line, an elliptical shooting trajectory with the eccentricity of 0.7 to 0.9 will be reasonable, and for middle-low speed fish school, an elliptical shooting trajectory with the eccentricity of 0.4 to 0.6 will be more useful than a circle shooting trajectory.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) selected fishing as the most dangerous group of jobs in the world, and it is well known in Korea as a 4D industry. Offshore large purse seine accounts for the largest portion of the fishing industry in the coastal region with high death rate and the accident rate. The repeated disaster rate survey by the Korea Maritime Institute (KMI) shows offshore large purse seiner is the highest at 22.3 percent and coastal gill nets and offshore stow net are following at 12.4 percent and 11.9 percent in order. Therefore, risk factors occurring in offshore large purse seiners were analyzed based on data from the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC) for three years from 2015 to 2017 and 4M (Man, Machine, Media, Management) 3E (Engineering, Education, Enforcement) techniques were used to provide a safe fishing environment. The number of accidents on offshore large purse seiners each year was more than 150, and the number of accidents on every fishing boats was as high as 17 percent in 2015. If the accident rate and the risk level were divided by insurance, the accident resulting from contact with machinery was the highest, and the risk of a contact with gear was low but frequently occurring. This was caused by collisions and contact with gear in situations where death and disappearance risk are not high, and accident types in situations where death and loss risk are considered to be contact with machinery, falls or other accidents. Through these analysis techniques, the frequency and risk of each type of accident on a offshore large purse seiners can be demonstrated, and it is expected to raise awareness of a safer fishing environment and contribute to the reduction of accidents.

The concern on the greenhouse gas emissions is increasing globally. Especially, the greenhouse gas emission from fisheries is an important issue from the Paris Climate Change Accord in 2015. Furthermore, the Korean government has a plan to reduce the GHG emissions as 4.8% compared to the BAU in fisheries until 2020. However, the investigation on the GHG emissions from Korean fisheries rarely carried out consistently. Therefore, the quantitative analysis of GHG emissions from Korean fishery industry is necessary as a first step to find a relevant way to reduce GHG emissions from fisheries. The purpose of this research is to investigate which degree of GHG emitted from the major offshore fisheries such as offshore gillnet fishery, offshore longline fishery, offshore jigging fishery and anchovy drag net fishery. Here, we calculated the GHG emissions from the fisheries using the Life Cycle Assessment method. The system boundary and input parameters for each process level are defined for the LCA analysis. The fuel use coefficients of the fisheries are also calculated according to the fuel type. The GHG emissions from sea activities by the fisheries will be dealt with. Furthermore, the GHG emissions for the unit weight of fishes are calculated with consideration to the different consuming areas as well. The results will be helpful to understand the circumstances of GHG emissions from Korean fisheries

The annual production of silver croaker (Argyrosomus argentatus) in Korean towed fishing gears has been increased in recent five years. In 2017, the annual production of silver croaker in metric ton was increased 99.2% compared to 2013. However, the research for silver croaker has been focused on ecology in Korea. There has not been enough research in terms of fishing gears. Therefore, the research for retention probability for towed gears was conducted on covered codend method from June, 2016 to July, 2018. During the experiments, the total catch of silver croaker was 1,563. The geometry of the experimental trawl gear was controlled by trawl monitoring system; net height was 3.3 m, distance of trawldoors was 59.8 m and distance of wing net was 17.3 m. The selection curve for silver croaker was estimated by a logit model. The analysis was applied with the confidence interval to reduce uncertainty of the estimation. The l50 was 13.87 cm and its selection range was 2.71 cm. P-value was estimated at 0.99. The mesh size for silver croaker in towed gears needs to be adjusted by considering its minimum maturity length, stakeholder’s interests and fisheries regulations.

In this study, we tested Japanese trolling lines in the Jeju fishery. This fishery simulates the natural marine environment with many seabed rocks, and has been redesigned and manufactured it to be suitable for the Jeju fishery. In order to ensure that the trolling lines were deployed at the inhabitation depth of hairtails, the conditions required for the fishing gear to reach the target depth were determined for use during the experiment. The experimental test fishing was conducted at the depth of 120 m water in front of Jeju Seongsanpo and in the offshore area of Jeju Hanlim. The fishing gear used in the test fishing is currently used in a variety of field operations in Japan. However, several problems were identified, such as twisting of the line during its deployment and excessive sinking of the main line. The fishing gear was, therefore, redesigned and manufactured to be more suitable for the Jeju fishery environment. For the fishing gear to accurately reach the target depth, depth loggers were installed at the starting point of the main line and at the 250 m and 340 m points of the line. Depth and time were recorded every 10 seconds. According to the daytime positioning of hairtails in the lower water column, the target depth of the fishing gear was set at 100-110 m, which was 10-20 m above the sea floor. At a speed of 1.9 knots and with a 9 kg sinker attached, the main fishing line was deployed and catch yields at depths of 100 m, 150 m and 180 m were recorded and analyzed. When the 180 m main line was fully deployed, the time for the hairtail trolling lines to arrive at the appropriate configuration had to be 5 minutes. At this time, the depth of the fishing gear was 16-23 m above the sea floor, in accordance with the depths at which the hairtails were during the day. In addition, in order to accurately place the fishing gear at the inhabitation water depth of hairtails, the experimental test fishing utilized the results of the depth testing that identified the conditions required for the fishing gear to reach the target depth, and the result was a catch of up to 97 kg a day.