Experiments for catch and cluster analysis on the catch by gillnet for the Pacific herring were conducted using traditional nylon net (PA) and developing biodegradable net (PBS) with different monofilaments of #2 (=0.23 mm) and #3 (=0.28 mm) in diameter between 2011 and 2012, and of #2, #2.5 and #3 in 2013 in the eastern coastal waters of Samcheok, Korea. The total catch during the experiments was 3,337kg in weight and 16,757 individuals in number. Though the catch ratio of the Pacific herring in 2011 and 2012 was 97.4% and 98.7%, respectively, that of the Pacific herring in 2013 was 73.6% as the biggest and followed by goldeye rockfish (8.6%), black edged sculpin (8.4%), atka mackerel (7.2%) and Alaska cod (1.0%). The ANOVA analysis on the total catch in relation to net material showed that there was not statistically significant difference at the 5% level between nylon net (PA) and biodegradable net (PBS) (p=0.91). With the cluster analysis on the catch in relation to net material (PA, PBS) and twine thick (#2, #3), it showed the influence of net material on the catch was greater than that of twine diameter in this experiment. From the test of homogeneity on the catch by the gillnet with PA and PBS in which several species were caught in 2013, there was not statistically significant homogeneity in relation to net material (p<0.005). That meant the traditional gillnet of nylon (PA) was more efficient than the biodegradable (PBS) gillnet to catch several kinds of fish, however the PBS gillnet was better than the PA gillnet to catch the target Pacific herring.

The angle of attack of a cambered otter board in a bottom trawl was estimated using a three-dimensional semi-analytic treatment of a towing cable (warp) system that was applied to the field experiments of a bottom trawl obtained by the Scanmar system. The equilibrium condition of the horizontal component and vertical component of forces was used to the three forces acting on the otter board in the horizontal plane. Those forces were the force on the warp at the bracket, hydrodynamic lift and drag forces on the otter board and the force on the hand rope attached just behind the otter board. Also the equilibrium of moment about the front edge of the otter board was used to find out the angle of attack of the cambered otter board. When the warp length was 120m and 180m long and the towing speed was between 1.23 and 1.90 m/s, the estimated angle of attack of the cambered otter board was ranged between 26.1° and 29.6°, respectively, though the maximum lift force was at the angle of attack 22.6°. The angle of attack of the otter board was tended to increase weakly with the longer length of warp (180 m) at the same towing speed in the experiment.

Shrimp beam trawl fishery is one of the important coastal fisheries in Korea. It has a regulation to the length of beam (8m) and wing net (7m) of shrimp beam trawl that has been used in the district of Junlanam-do and Gyungsangnam-do. This regulation was made in relation to the size of shrimp beam trawler of 3-ton class at that time. Now the shrimp beam fishing vessel has a limit not greater than 5 tons in gross ton. Recently, with improvement of fishing industry and fishing vessel fishermen asked the expansion of the length of beam and wing net, therefore it is necessary to investigate the effect of lengthening the beam and wing net length. Three different beams (8m, 10m and 12m in length) and three different wing net (7m, 10m and 13m in length) were made and the experiment was conducted near Narodo of Goheng by two fishing vessels of 4.98 and 4.88 tons in gross ton between June 2011 and October 2012. When the length of wing net was increased from 7m to 10m and 13m, the relative catch ratio in total biomass was increased 25% and 79% for shrimp, (17% and 22% in total), respectively. And when the beam length was increased from 8m to 10m and 12m, the relative catch ratio was increased 35% and 84% for shrimp, (21% and 37% in total), respectively. The force exerted to the iron guide of inhauler’s with the beam length of 8m was about 30% greater than that with the beam length of 10m when hauling the shrimp beam trawl net.

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.