The purpose of this study is to provide information about annual variations in catch size and changes in reproductive biology in the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, a commercially important species in Jeju Island. Samples were collected from coastal waters of Jeju Island, Korea by coastal trap fishery from January to November 2021. Octopus vulgaris have been decreasing in this region since 1984. The mantle length (ML) ranged from 4.5 to 17.8 cm and body weight (BW) ranged form 88.5 to 2,657.5 g. A χ 2 -test revealed that the number of males was significantly greater than females (χ 2 = 32.712, df = 10, P<0.05). Mature females were found from January to July and male occurred January to August. The gonadosomatic index value was higher from July to August than other months. The relationship between mantle length and body weight was BW = 2.4527ML 2.3139 (female) and BW = 2.6785ML 2.3159 (male). At 50% group maturity, female and male average weight was estimated to be 554.7 g and 330.6 g, respectively.

Changes in the fishing grounds for four drag-bagnet fisheries (large trawl, large pair trawl, large Danish seine and middle Danish seine) were investigated by year and sea-blocks in Korean waters. We used catch and effort data by sea-block (latitude × longitude: 30´ × 30´) of the National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) and yearly fishing production statistics of the Korean statistic information service from 2008 to 2014. The main benthic habitat of fishing ground was sand and sandy mud material. The average swept areas for the four fisheries were 181.7 km2, 606.4 km2, 2,720.9 km2 and 252.8 km2, respectively. The main fishing ground was around Jeju Island and the eastern South Sea. The main fishing ground moved to the northern part of the South Sea during the study period due to a closure of fishing grounds and changes in the target species.

The objective of this study was to provide fundamental information on fish swimming behavioral properties. Acoustic data was collected at nighttime from the 10th to 12th March, 2016 near Yokji Island in the South Sea of South Korea, and was analyzed using the fish track technique. This technique is to identify groups of single targets, which shows a pattern of systematic movement. As a result, the differences of the behavioral properties such as depth, swimming speed, vertical direction, horizontal direction, tortuosity, and depth change among days were minor; however, statistical results (Welch analysis of variance) showed significant difference between days. Especially, the target strength (TS) of the 11th were significantly different from the 10th and 12th. It could be assumed that gizzard shad, which was the dominant species from the catch on the 11th March, might have affected this difference. The correlation between TS and other properties was very week. The significant difference seemed even small differences of average values because of the large data volume.

To estimate the movement of Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus in the Korean Southeast Sea, three type tags were used. A total of 97 Pacific cod were tagged and released with either archival tags or conventional tags. Of these releases, commercial fishermen recovered thirteen conventional tags, and five of seven pop-up tags transmitted data to Argos satellites. Pacific cod began to move towards East Sea after release, and they spent most of their time at depths of 100 to 300m, water temperatures of 0.8 to 14.0°C. However, geographical ranges of their movement limited to area around the southern East Sea. Pacific cod attached conventional tag were recaptured near the release site(Jinhae Bay: main spawning ground) about one or two year after release. Data obtained from tagging investigations suggest that they migrated annually from spawning ground to habtat of the Korean Southeast Sea.

The twenty six specimens of leptocephali (15.8–32.6 mm TL) of the family Congridae, collected from southeastern waters offshore of Jeju Island during August 2014, and were identified by means of morphology and genetics. Those specimens were identified as belonging to the family Congridae based on various combinations of morphological characters. An analysis of the partial 12S rRNA sequences (886 base pairs) of mitochondrial DNA showed that our specimens must be Gnathophis nystromi, because their sequences were concordant with those of G. nystromi adult (genetic distance= 0.001), furthermore their total myomeres being consistent with those of G. nystromi adult. Catch rates of G. nystromi leptocephali were higher in the offshore regions than coastal regions of Jeju Island. The smallest leptocephali (< 20 mm TL) were collected offshore from Jeju Island. We hypothesize that one of the spawning grounds of G. nystromi is located offshore in the Jeju Island. In conclusion, the hatched preleptocephali of G. nystromi might have been transported from offshore near Jeju Island to the Korea Strait by the Kuroshio Current and Tsushima Warm Current.

Pacific herring Clupea pallasii eggs were attached to the gill net in Korean coastal waters off Busan. To conservation and management the eggs attached to the gill net, we followed the natural hatching in coastal waters from five days after fertilization to the hatching finished, where the temperature was 9°C. The diameter of fertilized eggs was 1.24–1.55 mm (n= 50), and had a segmented pale yellow yolk, no oil globule. Natural hatching had started by 10 days after fertilization. Mass hatching occurred around 11–12 days after fertilization, most of eggs separated from the gill net. Therefore, when the Pacific herring eggs attached in gill net, should be natural hatching–induced in coastal waters during 12–14 days.