This study was attempted to solve the problem that the current training is not consistent with the actual working environment of the fishing vessel, even though the advanced fire extinguishing training for international fishing vessels is mandatory. As a result of the survey, the lack of timely use of fire extinguishing equipment and the difficulty of organizing the fire extinguishing organization were found, and the main problems were analyzed as low understanding of fixed fire extinguishing facilities, low awareness of fire-related laws and regulations, and inefficiency of fire extinguishing training. It was found that the current Seafarers Act does not clearly define the roles and responsibilities of advanced fire extinguishers, and lacks specific standards for designated educational institutions, so there is a problem that the accuracy and reliability of the training contents with the STCW-F Convention and STCW Convention are inconsistent. In addition, it has been confirmed that the fire extinguishing organization, internal communication, and fire extinguishing training in ships, as stipulated in international agreements, are not properly reflected in the domestic curriculum. In particular, the current training consists of general contents that do not take into account the characteristics of fishing vessels, so there is a lack of practical emergency response fire extinguishing training manuals. Therefore, this study proposes the development of customized training content for fishing vessels considering the special working environment and risk factors of fishing vessels based on international agreements, and emphasizes the need for policy support, such as strengthening participation of fishing vessels in education and training, and establishing a legal basis for the operation of emergency fire extinguishing organizations.

This study examined the offshore eel trap fishing process using one year of fishing logs and fishermen’s insights to identify key operational challenges and propose equipment improvement for greater efficiency and safety. Conger eel catches varied significantly by season, depth, and temperature, peaking in winter at 85–90 m and 23°C. The western waters of Jeju Island were identified as a major fishing ground, with the highest catch recorded in November and the lowest in July, reflecting seasonal trends. Each fishing operation deployed about 10,000 traps, with an average loss of 38 traps, posing economic concerns. The process involved intensive manual labor in bait preparation, trap retrieval, catch separation, line loading, and unloading, leading to high physical demands and safety risks. To address these issues, the study proposed automation through the development of a line loading device, trap cleaning device, bait processing machine, and automatic catch separator. These innovations could reduce the labor force required by one to two workers per process, alleviate workloads, and enhance resource management. By integrating quantitative logbook analysis with field-based knowledge, this study offers practical value. Further research is recommended on automation development, cost-effectiveness, and field validation to support safer and more sustainable eel trap fisheries.

This study attempted to solve the problem that the current safety education contents of Korean fishing vessels are not consistent with the STCW-F Convention and do not properly reflect the actual operating environment of the fishing vessels. Despite the reinforced duty of safety education for fishing vessels after the Ferry Sewol accident, the problem has been pointed out that the effectiveness is still low due to merchant-oriented education contents and uniform education methods. Therefore, this study compared and analyzed laws related to safety education for fishing vessels and the STCW-F Convention, and derived improvement measures by collecting voices from the field through a survey of fishing vessels. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the current fishing vessel safety education does not take into account the reality of fishing such as fishing vessel type, navigation distance, and ship output, and that the core curriculum required by STCW-F Convention is omitted. In addition, it was found that education content on major accident types that frequently occur along the coast was also insufficient. In order to improve this, this study proposes to re-establish the target of safety education for fishing vessels based on STCW-F Convention related to fishing vessels, and to prepare a segmented education system by reorganizing the training contents to suit reality. In addition, the need to clearly distinguish the education of merchant and fishing vessels through the revision of the Seafarers Act and the Ship Employees Act was suggested, and to establish a safety education system for fishing vessels that meets STCW-F Convention and domestic conditions.

In this study, the stability of fishing boat inducing the change of fishing lamp in accordance with the installation of induction lamp in comparison with metal halide lamp was investigated. Inclining test for 8.55 ton class of hair-tail angling fishing boat was performed in order to find a GM and light weight. A stability calculation of the target fishing boat on the basis of KST-SHIP program was evaluated. The stability of the fishing boat with a metal halide lamp such as induction lamp according to the result obtained by the inclining test is slightly different, and the stability is not so much affected. Due to the induction lamp installation, the wind area increased by about 3.178 m 2 . Before installing the induction fishing lamp, G0M was found to be 0.209 at full load departure and 0.296 at departure from fishing ground. After installing the induction lamp, the full load departure condition is 0.178 and the fishing ground departure condition is 0.260. The G0M value before and after installation of the induction fishing lamp shows a difference of about 3% at the full load departure condition. The value of the critical angle of inclination definition showed a difference of about 16%. Despite these differences, it is lower than the regulations; it was confirmed that there will be no significant difference unless it is in an overloaded state.

In this study, factors such as improvement of a fishing process and safety, reduction of the labor force and headcount and development of the automation technology for offshore (eel and crab) pot fishing vessels were analyzed. A questionnaire survey was conducted to analyze and select the key factors using independent/paired sample t-test and correlation analysis, and a living lab was operated with ship owners, skippers and experts to discuss practical needs of the site. From the result of questionnaire survey and field requirements, it was possible to understand the level of awareness of ship safety, general safety equipment, fishing work process and fishing safety equipment from the point of view of the field. In addition, there were differences in the measurement results of each items because the working environment and experience were different according to the position of the ship owner and the skipper. The results of the questionnaire survey and various perceptions of field stakeholders were reflected when analyzing the fishing system and fishing process to choose the development equipment applicable to the field. From the analysis results, the selected development equipment based on the fishing equipment and process currently in operation are pot washing device, catch separation and fish hold injection device, length limit regulations and bait ejection device after use, automatic main line winding device, bait crusher, automatic (crab) pot hauling separator and so on.

The change of fishing power index was analyzed to identify the development of the vessel and gear technology that may improve the fishing efficiency of the offshore conger eel pot fishery from 1980s to 2015. Gross tonnage per fishing vessel was rapidly increased annually. The standard of pot was maintained, but the number of pot used rapidly increased by using conger eel pot hauling devices, carrying and loading devices, main line hauler, casting devices and slide type pot. Fish finder system to identify fishing ground information and the conger eel pot hauling devices were modernized, and supply rate was also increased. Therefore, the relative fishing power index in the offshore conger eel pot fishery increased from 1.0 in 1980 to 1.3 in 1990, to 1.8 in 2000 and to 2.0 in 2015. The results are expected to contribute to reasonable fisheries stock management of the offshore conger eel pot fishery.

This study describes how the illustration book of Korean coastal and offshore fishing boats was published. The illustration book provides information on fisheries which need boats for their fishing operation. The book contains 25 fishing boats belonging to 15 offshore fisheries and six boats belonging to five coastal fisheries totalling 31 boats belonging to 20 kinds of fisheries. Until now, no books were available in Korea on fishing boats which provided illustrated descriptions of their use in fishing. We carried out field and literature surveys of fishing boats for three years (2016-2018) and the results were compiled into three-dimensional modeling images with schematic drawings of fishing boats, along with text explanations. The particulars and technical drawings of lines, general arrangement (GA), fishing gears and methods are collected and summarized. All fishing boats are modeled with 3D color graphics. The particulars and names of the main items of the fishing equipment are presented besides structural parts. In addition the fishing gear, fishing season and grounds, number of crews and target species for each boat are correctly described. The illustration book of Korean coastal and offshore fishing boats will contribute to understanding the current status of fishing techniques in Korea and will assist in developing new types of fishing boats.