To examine species composition, abundance and biomass of demersal organisms in the East Sea, bottom trawl survey was conducted at 7 sea areas from 2005 to 2007. A total of 107 species were collected and were composed of 54 fish species, 16 crustacea, and 37 mollusks in the East Sea from 2005 to 2007. Yearly abundance per area which caught by trawl survey in the East Sea from 2005 to 2007 ranged from a high of 292,234inds./km2 in 2005 to a low of 192,092inds./km2 in 2006. The abundance by sea area showed a peak in 76 sea area, and the lowest in 63 sea area. The abundance per area by season showed a peak in summer, and the lowest in spring. The most dominant species in abundance were Clupea pallasii, Neocrangon communis, Chionoecetes opilio. Yearly biomass per area which caught by trawl survey in the East Sea from 2005 to 2007 ranged from a high of 10,322kg/km2 in 2006 to a low of 7,096kg/km2 in 2005. The most dominant species in biomass were Chionoecetes opilio, Clupea pallasii, Dasycottus setiger. The biomass by sea area also showed a peak in 76 sea area, and the lowest in 93 sea area. The abundance by season also showed a peak in summer, and the lowest in spring. As a result of cluster analysis, demersal organisms community of 76 sea area showed a large difference with other sea area, and that of summer showed a large difference with other season.

The age and growth of the sandfish, Arctoscopus japonicus were investigated from samples of the eastern sea danish seine and gill net fishery in the East Sea of Korea from February, 2004 to December, 2007. Ages were determined from annuli in otoliths and annuli were formed between December and February once a year. Also, the main spawning period was estimated to be between December and January, thus rings were considered to be annual marks. For the relationship between fork length and total weight, a multiplicative error structure was assumed because variability in growth increased as a function of the length. The relationship between fork length and total weight were TW=0.0083FL3.01(R2=0.966) for female and TW=0.0079FL3.04(R2=0.969) for male. The variability in growth was constant as a function of age, revealing an additive error structure. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters estimated by a non-linear method were L∞=31.6cm, K=0.266/year, t0=-0.835 years for female and L∞=27.7cm, K=0.273/year, t0=-0.806 years for male. Growth at age between male and female had a significant difference(P〈0.001).

Maturation and spawning of the Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus was investigated based on the samples captured in East Sea of Korea from April 2006 to July 2007. Gonadosomatic index began to increase in November, and reached maximum between December and January. After spawning it began to decrease from March. Reproductive season was estimated to November-February, with peak in January. Fecundity was proportional to the size of the female, with the clutch size varying from 753,985 eggs in the smallest female(TL＝58.6cm) to 9,311,520 eggs in the largest(TL＝101.0cm). Size at 50% sexual maturity(TL50%) determined from mature females was 56.3cm of TL. Annual reproductive cycles of this species could be divided into six successive stages; immature stage(March-September), nucleolus stage(September-October), yolk vesicle stage(October-November), vitellogenic stage (November-December), ripe stage and spent stage(December-February).

The mesh selectivity of gill net for Japanese sandfish (Arctoscopus japonicus) caught in the East Sea, Korea was described. The experiment was conducted with five different kinds of mesh size (39.4, 45.5, 51.5, 53.0, 57.6mm) between November and December 2006 in spawning season. The catch was mostly Japanese sandfish (93.3%) and some others (6.7%), and almost all of the female Japanese sandfish were larger than the fork length at 50% maturity (16.7cm). The selection curve for the female Japanese sandfish caught from the experiments was fitted by the Kitahara's method to a polynomial equation which was s(R)=exp{(0.2584R3-5.3445R2+32.269R-59.868)-0.6585} where R＝l/m, and l and m are fork length and mesh size, respectively.

Coastal marine ecosystem plays important role of spawning and nursery grounds for fisheries resources. Yongil Bay is one of major coastal marine ecosystems, which is located in the southwestern East Sea of Korea. Species composition and abundance of marine organism in the Yongil Bay were investigated by season from March to November 2009. Gill net and pot fisheries were used for survey of pelagic and demersal species composition, and collected 106 species, 67 families, and 7 taxa of fisheries resources from the coastal ecosystem. Species were included 2 species in Ascidiacea, 2 species in Bivalvia, 6 in Cephalopoda, 22 in Crustacea, 5 in Echinodermata, 12 in Gastropoda, and 57 in Pisces. Diversity indices (Shannon index, H’) showed seasonal variation with low value of 2.11 in winter, and high value of 2.63 in autumn. Main dominant species were Asterias amurensis, Pleuronectes yokohamae, Siphonalia spadicea fuscolineata, Trachurus japonicas, Sillago japonica, Conger myriaster, Volutharpa ampullaceal, Engraulis japonicus, Asterina pectinifera, and Portunus (Portunus) sanguinolentus that were occupied over 71.5% of total individuals, and 52.9% of wet weight. Seasonal variations of fisheries resources composition were discussed on correlationships with those of environmental factors in the coastal ecosystem of the Yongil Bay in Korea. Those results from this study will provide scientific data and information to develop the ecosystem-based coastal fisheries assessment and management system in Korea.