Acoustic surveys were conducted in the seas surround the South Korea (South Sea A, South Sea B (waters around the Jeju Island), West Sea and East Sea) in spring and autumn in 2016. First, the vertical and horizontal distributions of fisheries resources animals were examined. In most cases vertical acoustic biomass was high in surface water and mid-water layers other than South Sea A in autumn and West Sea. The highest vertical acoustic biomass showed at the depth of 70-80 m in the South Sea A in spring (274.4 m2/nmi2) and the lowest one was 10-20 m in the West Sea in autumn (0.4 m2/nmi2). With regard to the horizontal distributions of fisheries resources animals, in the South Sea A, the acoustic biomass was high in eastern and central part of the South Sea and the northeast of Jeju Island (505.4-4099.1 m2/nmi2) in spring while it was high in eastern South Sea and the coastal water of Yeosu in autumn (1046.9-2958.3 m2/nmi2). In the South Sea B, the acoustic biomass was occurred high in the southern and western seas of Jeju Island in spring (201.0-1444.9 m2/nmi2) and in the southern of Jeju Island in autumn (203.7-1440.9 m2/nmi2). On the other hand, the West Sea showed very low acoustic biomass in spring (average NASC of 1.1 m2/nmi2), yet high acoustic biomass in the vicinity of 37 N in autumn (562.6-3764.2 m2/nmi2). The East Sea had high acoustic biomass in the coastal seas of Busan, Ulsan and Pohang in spring (258.7~976.4 m2/nmi2) and of Goseong, Gangneung, Donghae, Pohang and Busan in autumn (267.3-1196.3 m2/nmi2). During survey periods, fish schools were observed only in the South Sea A and the East Sea in spring and the West Sea in autumn. Fish schools in the South Sea A in spring were small size (333.2 ± 763.2 m2) but had a strong SV (–49.5 ± 5.3 dB). In the East Sea, fish schools in spring had low SV (–60.5 ± 14.5 dB) yet had large sizes (537.9 ± 1111.5 m2) and were distributed in the deep water depth (83.5 ± 33.5 m). Fish schools in the West Sea in autumn had strong SV (–49.6 ± 7.4 dB) and large sizes (507.1 ± 941.8 m2). It was the first time for three seas surrounded South Korea to be conducted by acoustic surveys to understand the distribution and aggregation characteristics of fisheries resources animals. The results of this study would be beneficially used for planning a future survey combined acoustic method and mid-water trawling, particularly deciding a survey location, a time period, and a targeting water depth.

For scientific research, a number of acoustic surveys using commercial echosounders equipped in fishing vessels were conducted throughout the world; however, few studies were performed in South Korea. Hence, this research is an preliminary study for presenting the application of a sounder from a fishing vessel. The fishing operations using a pair trawler (7 Cheonghae) was conducted in the Northwest-Western sea of Jeju Island from 20 to 23 April, 2016. Substantial impulse noises and attenuated signals were eliminated by the latest algorithms. Acoustic signals were grouped into the fish aggregations and long layer-like signals. The fish aggregations appeared between 30 and 60 m, and long layer-like signals showed the diurnal vertical migration. Energetic, morphological and positional properties of the fish aggregations and layer-like signals were described. The fish aggregations appeared mainly between sunrise and sunset; however layer-like signals tended to be presented regardless of time in consideration of the time series analysis. On the basis of the consignment sales, Scomberomorus niphonius, the target species of F/V 7 Cheonghae, was the highest catch with 4,280 kg (74.6%) and might have appeared in fish aggregations and layer forms.

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.

Acoustic surveys using a scientific echosounder and trawl surveys were concurrently carried out in between Geoje and Tongyeong of the South Sea by season. The anchovy schools were identified by trawling in each station and used for frequency response analysis. Frequency responses of anchovy schools by season and species composition ratio were examined using multi-frequencies (18, 38, 70, 120 and 200 kHz). The frequency response r(f), is one of the acoustic characteristics which means the volume back-scattering strength ratio between a reference frequency and other frequencies. In spring, the r(f) of anchovy schools decreased with increased frequency, with the exception of 120kHz. While, in winter, the r(f) continuously decreased inversely proportional to the increase in frequency. Frequency response of anchovy schools presented a distinctive difference between spring and winter, however it did not different in spife of different species composition ratios in schools.

An acoustic and trawl pilot survey using a small vessel was conducted in Jinhae bay of the South Sea of South Korea on April 13~14, May 11~13 and June 8~10, 2015. During the survey, acoustic data was collected and bottom trawls were conducted at the same time. First, various noises were eliminated by using the Park method based on the Wang method(Wang et al., 2015; Park et al., 2015), the species compositions and catch rate from each bottom trawl were observed, and spatial distribution of fishery resources in the water column and their nautical area scattering coefficient (NASC) were investigated through acoustic data. During the entire survey period, 12 orders, 33 families and 41 species were caught. The most caught species in April, May and June were Okamejei kenojei, Zoarces gilli and Pholis nebulosa, respectively. Fish schools were observed near the line of net mouth height in April. Numerous weak scatters were presented on the echograms in May and June. Many fish schools appeared in between the water surface and 20 m deep in May. The NASC value from entire water columns was the lowest in April (35.9 m2/n･mile2) and highest in June (1541.3 m2/n･mile2).

The hydro–acoustic technology has been widely used in not only South Korea but also many foreign countries for various scientific purposes. Unfortunately acoustic data especially collected from field surveys may contain noises caused by a variety of sources. Therefore, it is exceedingly important to eliminate noises when acoustic data are analyzed to derive quantitative results. This study introduced two methods for eliminating noises easily and effectively using post–processing software. Used acoustic data were collected on the Jinhae bay and Tongyeong coast of the South Sea in April 2015. The first method, that is the Wang’s method, placed emphasis on ‘erosion filter’ to eliminate only data samples contaminated by noises. The second method (Yamandu’s method) focused on the ‘resample by number of pings’ to remove pings contained noises. To substantiate the effectiveness of two methods, the mean Sv (Volume backscattering strength), mean height and depth of the fish schools detected were compared between before and after using the noise elimination methods. In the Wang’s method the mean Sv was decreased from –52.4 dB to –52.9 dB, and in the Yamandu’s method from –52.6 dB to –53.3 dB, indicating that noises were successfully eliminated. The mean height (1.5 m) and depth (19.0 m) were same between before and after using two methods showing that the shapes of fish schools were not changed.

The multi-frequency characteristics of anchovy schools were investigated using six acoustic lines collected at 38 and 120 kHz while a primary trawl survey was conducted from 14 April and 18 April of 2014 in off the coast of Tongyeong and Geo–je. Here, the frequency characteristics mean ΔMVBS that is the difference of Mean Volume Backscattering Strength at two frequencies. To use the characteristics effectively, the optimal cell size (10×2 m) was determined by examining several different cell sizes in consideration with the shapes of fish schools and the ΔMVBS pattern. By examining 6 histograms of ΔMVBS, afternoon groups were occupied more in the ΔMVBS range of –6~–4 dB than that of –4~–2 dB, comparing to morning groups. The ΔMVBS range of the morning groups was between –16.9 dB and 11.6 dB, and that of the afternoon groups –16.7 dB and 13.0 dB. The average and standard deviation were –3.9±3.6 dB in the morning and –4.1±3.4 dB in the afternoon, suggesting that morning groups were 2 dB higher than afternoon groups. The ΔMVBS range of all anchovy schools regardless of morning and afternoon was between –16.9 dB and 13.0 dB, their average ΔMVBS was –4.1±3.5 dB. The characteristics can support to identify anchovy species in the waters where multiple fish species are distributed. It is hoped that this study presents the availability and benefit of acoustic data from a primary trawl survey.