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.

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.

Experiment was set up to analyze bycatch and discards situation including snow crap Chionoecetes opilio of whelk trap. Four types of trap were used: drum type trap with PE net; drum type trap with PBS net; cylinder type trap with PE net; and cylinder type net with PBS net. Three funnels were attached in drum type trap and two funnels were used in cylinder type trap. A fleet of traps was consisted with one hundred traps. 25 traps of each type were set on a line in repeated sequence. Field experiments were conducted with 6 fishing operations in the Uljin waters, East Sea in July 2014. Catch of target whelks were 173,261 g and catch rate was 48.7% of total catch, while bycatch were 182,571 g, 51.3% of tatal catch. The catch rate of bycatch was 2.6% higher than that of target catch. Bycatch weight of snow crap was the highest as 142,987 g and formed about 40.2% of total catch, followed giant octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, 31,762 g (8.9%). Bycatch rate of cylinder type trap was 2.3 times higher than that of drum type trap. Discard rate (discard/(discard+landing)) was 43.6%. Discard rate was the highest at cylinder type trap with PBS net as 63.1%, followed cylinder type trap with PE net as 47.9%, drum type trap with PE net as 33.4%, the lowest at drum type trap with PBS net as 22.1%.