Density and sound speed contrasts (g and h , respectively), and swimming angle were measured for sandfish (Arctoscopus japonicus) without swimbladder. The density contrast was measured by the volume displacement method while the sound speed contrast was measured by the acoustic measurements of travel time (time-of-flight method). The swimming angle was measured by dividing it into daytime, nighttime, daytime feeding and nighttime feeding. The g was 1.001 to 1.067 with an average (± standard deviation) of 1.032 (± 0.017), and the h was 1.007 to 1.022 with an average (± standard deviation) of 1.015 (± 0.003). The swimming angles (mean ± standard deviation) were 16.8 ± 10.3° during the daytime, 1.9 ± 12.3° during the nighttime, 30.2 ± 12.6° in the daytime feeding and 35.0 ± 13.2° in the nighttime feeding. These results will provide important parameters input to calculate theoretical scattering models for estimating the acoustic target strength of sandfish.

The ichthyoplanktons were sampled by Bongo net to study the distribution of the eggs and larvae in the West coastal waters of Korea during the study period (February, May, August and October of 2017). Collected fish eggs were divided into Engraulis japonicus and unidentified species. The most dominant species, Engraulis japonicus accounted for 79.52% of the total fish egg, which was followed by unidentified species (20.48%). The total of 36 taxa in fish larvae were identified based on morphological and molecular characteristics. Fish larvae were dominant by Gobiidae species. 48.30% of the total catch in abundance, which was followed by Engraulis japonicus (31.86%). These two taxa composed 80.16% of the total collected fish larvae. The seasonal diversity index of species from the collected fish larvae in the West coastal waters in 2017 was 0.625-1.883 and the evenness index was 0.380-0.865. In addition, dominance index was 0.618-0.920 and richness was 0.573-3.189.

Commercial split beam echosounder (ES70) installed on a krill fishing vessel was calibrated in order to utilize it in estimating biomass of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). The method of calibration was to analyze the difference between the bottom backscattering strength of the commercial split beam echosounder (i.e. ES70) and the scientific echosounder (i.e. EK60) at one of transects near South Shetland Islands designated by CCAMLR. 38 kHz and 120 kHz were used for the calibration, and krill swarm signal levels obtained from multi frequencies, was examined to verify the calibration result. The analysis result indicated possibility of calibration by bottom backscattering strength, since the proportion of krill swarm signals within 2 dB < SV 120 kHz-38 kHz < 12 dB (i.e. a common SV 120 kHz-38 kHz range of 38 kHz and 120 kHz to be an indicator of Antarctic krill) over the total acoustic signals were 26.95% and 92.04%, respectively before and after the calibration.

Changes in target strength (TS) values of sandfish when sandfish was alive and dead were investigated using ex-situ at120 kHz. TS values measured by tilt angles with ‑50∼+50 degrees showed ranges from ‑71.0 to ‑53.3 dB for live sandfish, ‑63.1~‑46.3 dB for thawed sandfish, and ‑70.0~‑50.4 dB after 24 hours from thawed, respectively. It was shown that while TS values were similar between the case of live and the case of after 24 hours from thawed, mean TS values were higher by approximately 5 dB in the case of immediate thawed sandfish. It was also seen that TS values were similar between the case of thawed sandfish and the case of after 21 hours from live. The results showed that TS values of live sandfish were different from those of frozen sandfish. It implies that when estimating TS of frozen fish, the influx of bubbles and changes of body should be considered.

This study was focused on acoustic scattering characteristics of jack mackerel (Trachurus japonicus) at frequency 38, 70, and 120 kHz by Kirchhoff-ray mode (KRM) model. The body length (BL) of 16 individuals ranged in 12.2~22.0 cm (mean±S.D.: 17.8±3.2 cm) and the swimbladder length ranged in 4.2~8.6 cm (mean±S.D.: 6.6±1.6 cm) and the swimbladder cross section ranged in 1.7~6.6 cm2 (mean±S.D.: 3.8±1.6 cm2). This result shows that results correlate well between the BL and the length and cross section of swimbladder. The swimbladder angle ranged in 7~12°and the maximum TS values ranged in –16~–5°at tilt angle. The averaged TS-to-BL relationship were TS38kHz=20log10BL-65.33 (R2=0.66), TS70kHz=20log10BL-65.90 (R2=0.67), and TS120kHz=20log10BL-66.65 (R2=0.65). These results can be used fundamental data in order to estimate distribution and biomass of jack mackerel by using hydro-acoustic method.

Acoustic target strength (TS) measurement and theoretical acoustic scattering models were applied to estimate the TS for assessing the fish biomass. TS measurement was made of ex situ sailfin sandfish Arctoscopus japonicus at 70 and 120 kHz, and then compared to backscatter model prediction. The live sandfish was tethered in seawater using monofilament lines. Measurements were made versus incidence angle, −50° to 50° relative to dorsal aspect directions. Distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA) model was used to calculated TS pattern. The TS values of sandfish (body length: 16.2 cm) at 70 and 120 kHz were ‒66.94 dB and ‒64.45 dB, respectively, and were about 20 dB lower than TS of other fishes in Korea waters. These TS levels were distributed within the range of the theoretical TS. Ex situ measurement and theoretical TS may be applied to improve acoustical detection and biomass estimation of the sandfish, and is necessary to measure with various lengths.

The Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is utilized to manage krill resources using acoustic data collection and a scientific observer program operating on the fishing boats. However, the acoustic data were contained seriously noise, example of background, spike, and intermittent noise, due to purpose of fish boats. In this study, the noise removal techniques were confirmed the potential of the acoustic data analysis. Acoustic system and frequency used in the survey were commercial echosounder (ES70, SIMRAD) and 200 kHz split beam transducer. Acoustic data were analyzed using Echoview software (Myriax), and general data analysis and new noise removal method was used. Although a variety of noise, most of the noises have been removed using the noise removal processing. We confirmed the possibility of analyzing the acoustic data obtained from fish boats. The results will be useful for analysis of the acoustic data acquired from krill fishing boats.