The mesh selectivity of a drum shaped pot for finely-striate buccinum (Buccinum striatissimum) was conducted a total of eight times with four different mesh sizes (22, 35, 50 and 60 mm) from May to September, 2019 in the eastern coastal waters of Korea. The size selectivity analysis was estimated by the SELECT method to express logistic selectivity curves. In the results, the catch of finely-striate buccinum was occupied about 90% in the total catch weight. The equation of the master curve of selectivity was estimated to s(R) = exp(-7.778R+9.983)/[1+exp(-7.778R+9.983)]. The relative shell height of 50% selection was 1.284 and the selection range (SR) was 0.282. The optimal mesh size for 50% selection on the minimum maturation size (75 mm, Shell height) was estimated more than 60 mm by the master selectivity curve.

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.

The improvement of resistance performance for the 4.99 ton class fishing boats was shown. The 4.99 ton fishing boats are the most commonly used one in the Korean coastal region. The evaluation of resistance performance was estimated by the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. The CFD simulation was performed by the validation for various types of bow shapes on the hull. The optimized hull form from the simulation was selected and showed the best resistance performance. This hull type was tested on the towing tank in the National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS). The effective horsepower (EHP) was estimated by the resistance test on the towing tank with the bare hull condition. The drag force on the three service speed conditions was obtained for the resistance analysis to power prediction. The measured drag forces are compared with the results from the CFD simulation with one another. As results of the model tests, it was confirmed that the shape of the bow is an important factor in the resistance performance. The effective horsepower decreased about 30% in comparison with the conventional hull form. Also, the resistance performance improved the reduction of required horsepower, which especially contributed to the energy-saving for the fisheries industry. In the CFD analysis, the resistance performance improved slightly. In this case, the ratio of the residual resistance (CR) in the total resistance (CT) was high. Therefore, the CFD analysis was not enough to satisfy with reflection for the free surface and wave form in the CFD procedure. Both model test and CFD calculation in this study can be applied to the initial design process for the coastal fishing vessel.

Comparative fishing experiments were conducted in the eastern coastal waters near Uljin, Korea from 2002 to 2004, using the experimental trammel nets to estimate the selectivity for spinyhead sculpin Dasycottus setiger. The inner panels of the nets were made of nylon monofilament with four mesh sizes (82.2, 89.4, 104.8, and 120.2 mm) while its two outer panels were made of twisted nylon multifilament with a mesh size of 510 mm. The SELECT (Share Each Length’s Catch Total) procedure with maximum likelihood method was applied to obtain a master selection curve. The different functional models (normal, lognormal, bi-normal, and logistic model) were fitted to the catch data. The lognormal model with the fixed relative fishing intensity was chosen as the best-fitted selection curve through comparison of model deviance and AIC (Akaike’s Information Criterion). The optimum relative length (the ratio of fish total length to mesh size) with the maximum relative efficiency was obtained as 2.492.

Fishing pots are one of the important fishing gears in our coastal and offshore fisheries. In terms of a sustainable use of marine resources, there are concerns about the ghost fishing by lost pots. It is reported that 10 to 70% of the pots are abandoned or lost annually. This study is to compare the catching efficiency of drum type whelk pots that are made of biodegradable nets to those made of the ordinary nets, in the eastern coast of Korea. Five types of drum pots were used with combination of biodegradable nets and ordinary (PA, PE) nets applied to the main and funnel parts of the pots: pots with biodegradable nets (Bio+Bio); pots with PE net (PE+PE); pots with body and funnel made of biodegradable nets and PE nets respectively (Bio+PE); pots with body and funnel made of PE nets and PA nets respectively (PE+PA); pots with body and funnel made of PE nets and biodegradable net respectively (PE+Bio). Field experiments were conducted from June 18th, 2015 to August 7th, 2015 using a commercial fishing vessel in the Uljin waters on the eastern coast of Korea. Two fleets of pots with one hundred in each, 20 pots of each type, were casted for 8 to 15 days to analyze their catching efficiency. The catch of target species, whelks, was 202,563.0 g with catch rate of 38.7% of the total catch, while the bycatch was 320,709.7 g with the rate of 61.3% of the total catch. The catch of whelks was the highest in the Bio+PE pots (46,020.3 g), followed by the Bio+Bio pots (42,027.5 g), the PE+Bio pots (41,849.9 g) and the lowest being PE+PE pots (38,054.2 g). Compared to the conventional pots, the pots with biodegradable nets on the body or entrance part had slightly higher catch rate for both the target species and the bycatch. The PE+PE had the lowest catch rate. There is no significant difference in catch between the pots with biodegradable nets and the ordinary nets for the target species such as Buccinum opisthoplectum, Neptunea eulimata, Buccinum striatissimum. Consequently, using biodegradable nets for the conventional whelk pots can reduce ghost fishing by lost gears while keeping the performance of the pots.

Spinyhead sculpin Dasycottus setiger, a species of cold water fish, is distributed along the eastern coastal waters of Korea. A series of fishing experiments was carried out in the waters near Uljin from June, 2002 to November, 2004, using the experimental monofilament gill nets of different mesh sizes (82.2, 89.4, 104.8, and 120.2 ㎜) to describe the selectivity of the gill net for the fish. The SELECT (Share Each Length’s Catch Total) analysis with maximum likelihood method was applied to fit the different functional models (normal, lognormal, and bi-normal models) for selection curves to the catch data. The bi-normal model with the fixed relative fishing intensity was selected as the best-fit selection curve by AIC (Akaike’s Information Criterion) comparison. For the best-fit selection curve, the optimum relative length (the ratio of fish total length to mesh size) with the maximum efficiency and the selection range (R50%,large - R50%, small) of 50% retention were obtained as 2.363 and 0.851, respectively. The ratios of body girth to mesh perimeter at 100% retention where the selection curve of each mesh size represented the optimum total length were calculated as the range of 0.86 ~ 0.87.

Species composition and bycatch rate of the catches by dredge with bycatch reduction device to reduce bycatch were estimated around Yeongil Bay, Korea at June, 2015. Total catches were collected 31 species as Chordata 10 species, mollusca 8 species, arthropoda 6 species, echinodermata 5 species, sipunculida 1 species, annelida 1 species during the experiment at the Yeongil Bay. The dominant species were Scapharca broughtonii, Callithaca adamsi, and Atrina pectinata and they reached 79.9% of the total catch. The catch rate of Scapharca broughtonii and Callithaca adamsi was 69.6% and 10.4% respectively. The rate of bycatch was 20.1%, consisted with Echinodemata 13.0%, Chordata 3.6%. The catch of ordinary dredge was 27 species 1,307 number 85,052g and that of dredge with escapement device was 21 species 1,690 number 91,648g. In conclusion, the dredge gear with bycatch reduction device has higher catch rate of target species and lower bycatch rate to non–target species than ordinary one.

A series of field tests to estimate the size selectivity of monofilament and multifilament gill net for marbled sole, Pleuronectes yokohamae, were carried out 12 times with five different mesh sizes (86.6, 101.0, 121.2, 137.7 and 151.5mm) in the western sea of Korea from 2007 to 2009. The master selection curve was estimated by the extended Kitahara’s method. The total number of catch species was 23 and that of catch was 1,688 in the field tests. Marbled sole of total catch was 1,150 with 68.1 percent. In the monofilament trammel net, the optimum value of total length (TL) per mesh size (m) for 1.0 of retention probability was estimated 0.280 and the values of TL/m were estimated to be 0.187, 0.201, 0.210, 0.218 and 0.226 when the retention probability were 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5, respectively. In the multifilament trammel net, the optimum value of TL/m for 1.0 of retention probability was estimated 0.307 and the values of TL/m were estimated to be 0.195, 0.211, 0.222, 0.232 and 0.241 when the retention probability were 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5, respectively.

The dredge gear is dragged along the bottom of the sea to catch targeted edible bottom dwelling species. Species composition and ecological index of the catches of dredge were estimated around Gangneung coastal fishing ground by dredge with different mesh size and tooth space from July to December 2013. Eight different types of dredge including four different tooth space (24.7 mm, 29.9 mm, 34.9 mm, 40.1 mm) and four different mesh size(15.5 mm, 32.7 mm, 51.1 mm, 060.0 mm) were used in the experiment. During the experiment, total catches were collected 31 species as sipunculida 1 species, mollusca 13 species, annelida 3 species, arthropoda 8 species, echinodermata 4 species and others 2 species. The dominant genus were mollusca and echinodermata while the dominant species were Megangulus venulosus, Pseudocardium sachalinensis, Schaphechinus brevis. The richness index was ranged 1.29-1.72, evenness index was 0.6-0.65 and diversity index was 1.65-1.83 according to the tooth space and mesh size of dredge. Richness index, diversity index were high at tooth space 34.9 mm dredge and ecological index showed decreasing tendency with the increasing of mesh size of dredge. Cluster and MDS analysis, based on a Bray-Curtis and similarity matrix of fourth root transformed data of number of species and wet weight, showed division into four different groups as four different tooth space (Group A), four different mesh size Group B (51.1 mm, 60.0 mm), Group C (32.7 mm) and Group D (15.5 mm).

Finely-striate buccinum Buccinum striatissimum, a species of whelks, is caught mainly by pot in the eastern coastal waters of Korea. In order to determine the size selectivity of pot for the species, comparative fishing experiments were conducted near Yeongil Bay from June to September in 2003 using the dome-shaped pots with different five mesh sizes (17.1, 24.8, 35.3, 39.8, and 48.3 mm). The parameters of logistic equation were estimated by the SELECT (Share Each Length’s Catch Total) method based on a multinomial distribution. The model with the estimated split parameter was found to fit the catch data best. The master selection curve was estimated to be s (R)=exp (13.044R－16.438)/[1 + exp (13.044R－16.438)], where R is the ratio of shell height to mesh size. The relative shell height of 50% retention was 1.260, and the selection range was 0.168. Enlargement in mesh size of the pot allows more small-sized whelks to escape.

To compare the catches made using gillnets, trammel nets, and gillnets with supporting lines, several experiments were conducted with commercial vessels near Uljin and Pohang in Eastern Korea between July 2010 and May 2011. Two sets of 13 different nets were used, including 5 panels of gillnets and trammel nets each with stretched mesh sizes of 7.6, 9.1, 10.6, 12.1, and 13.6 cm and 3 panels of gillnets with a mesh size of 9.1 cm with supporting lines with different line spacing. The outer (stretched) mesh size of the trammel nets measured 51.5 cm. The target fishes of the fishing nets were various types of flounders. The catch rate of flounders was 50.7% of the total catch in weight. The total catch for all nets was 443.8 kg. The predominant species was pointhead flounder (Cleisthenes pinetorum). The total catch by trammel nets was 1.4 times that of the comparable gillnets. But more pointhead flounder were caught by gillnets than by trammel nets, though there was no significant difference. Fishermen catching the pointhead flounder in Korea said that there was no need to use trammel net to catch it; this was an unexpected finding compared to the findings of other flounder fisheries. The amounts of roughscale sole, brown sole, and blackfin flounder caught by trammel nets were greater than those caught by gillnets. The mean lengths (standard deviation) of blackfin flounder, pointhead flounder, brown sole, and roughscale sole were 21.0 (4.57), 22.9 (3.40), 24.7 (4.90), and 28.3 (5.43) cm, respectively; there were significant differences in mean length (p < 0.00001). Therefore, in order to catch flounder efficiently, the fishing nets and mesh size should be chosen according to the target species. One advantage of using supporting lines is that it prevents breakage by strengthening the material especially when utilized on a rough bottom. Catch by using gillnet with supporting lines was not greater than that by using trammel net for the conservation of fisheries resources.