The species composition and abundance variations of fishery resources in the adjacent marine ranching area, Tongyeong, Korea, were investigated by shrimp trawl, gill net, and longline during the period of July, September, and October in 2016. During the study period, the total catch were 8,522.9 kg with 34 species from the shrimp trawl, 32 species from the gill net, and nine species from the longline. The dominant species were different by gear, which were Hypodytes rubripinnis and Parapercis sexfasciata in the shrimp trawl, Platycephalus indicus and Raja kenojei in the gill net, and Conger myriaster and Scomber Japonicus in the longline. In terms of spatial distribution, Yongchodo showed the highest total catch in number as well as of in weight while Jukdo showed the lowest total catch in number and Bijindo showed the lowest total catch in weight. The amount of demersal fish resources in the survey area estimated as 301 ha, was 99,396 individuals which was converted to be 8,552.9 kg. The amount of demersal fish resources by gear were of trawling area, which area is 127 ha, were 76,251 and 3,489.5 kg, 74 ha in the gill net and longline survey area was 16,213 and 3,457.3 kg, and the other 100 ha area was 6,932 and 1,606.1 kg. In this study, the minimum resources for demersal fish is 61,687 and 4,265.2 kg, and the maximum is 149,439 and 14,197.9 kg.

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.

A study for species composition and abundance of the fish assemblages in the coastal Sacheon Bay, Korea were conducted using monthly collection by a shrimp beam trawl from March 2015 to February 2016. The number of individuals, biomass and species diversity indices fluctuated with the station and month. Of all 73 species collected, the dominant species in terms of numbers were Liparis tanakae, Zoarces gillii, Amblychaeturichthys hexanema, Ricuzenius pinetorum and Pleuronichys cornutus. The peak number of fishes occurred in March and April, whereas the biomass of fishes was highest in April. The numbers and biomass of fishes were lower in February corresponding with the low temperature, and diversity indices were highest in June. Due to those seasonal difference in abundance of the dominant species, fish community were divided into three main groups. In addition, seasonal difference by station of fish community were devided into four main groups. Juvenile fishes of coastal Sacheon were presented during the study period. It presented that the study area served as an important role in spawning and nursery ground for fisheries resource.

The tension of warp from trawler and sea-floor contact can generate tilt and wake turbulence around otter boards. Preliminary measurements of otter board tilt and 3-D flow velocity during bottom trawl operations were taken using a vector instrument to investigate the effects of wake turbulence at the trailing edge of the otter board. Tilt data (i.e., yaw, pitch, and roll) at 1 Hz and flow data (velocities in the towing, lateral, and vertical directions) at 16 Hz were analyzed to determine their periods and amplitudes using global wavelet and peak event analyses. The mean period (±standard deviation) of the tilt from the peak event analysis (5±2 s) was longer or double than that of flow velocity (3±2 s). The two periods also had a significant linear relationship. The turbulence rate of flow was 30-50% at the trailing edge and was closely related to roll deviation. The frequency of phase difference ratios (i.e., peak time differences between tilts and flow periods) was significantly different from random occurrence in two trials, possibly due to side tidal effects. However, in the other trials, flow peaks were random, as shown by the even peak times between tilts and flows. Future studies should focus on reducing tilt variation, wake turbulence, and bottom contact to stabilize otter board motion.

Fuel consumption in fisheries is a primary concern due to environmental effects and costs to fishermen. Much research has been carried out to reduce the fuel consumption related to fishing operations. The fuel consumption of fishing gear in fishing operation is generally related to hydrodynamic resistance on the gear. This research is to propose a low drag generated midwater trawl in terms of the gear design improvement using simulations. The results from the simulation were verified with results that mirrored the model experiments. From the results, the resistance force of the proposed gear decreased to 29% compared to that of the current gear. Furthermore, the gear performance also improved with increased gear mouth compared to the current one. Therefore, the proposed gear will be helpful to reduce the greenhouse gases from fishing operation. It will also contribute to the fishing industry by saving fuel.

This study attempted to help determine Korean fishery policies by proposing improvement plans after examining the current regulations, fishing vessels, fishing gear and fishing methods of the middle sized trawl fishery in the East Sea for targeting only squid. In general, the size, engine horse power, and net length of the middle sized trawlers are between 50 and 60 GT, 1,200 and 1,600 PS, and approximately 165 m with four seamed trawl nets, respectively. While a jigging vessel attracted squids using lights, the trawler approached a jigging vessel. The trawler let the jigging vessel know its decision for fishing, and then jigging vessel rolled up jigs. The net of the trawler was casted at 45 degrees between the bow and the stern of the jigging vessel. Once the trawler towed close to the stern of the jigging vessel upon its passing of the jigging vessel, the bow of the trawler turned 45 degrees left again. Then, squid aggregations were entered into the net. When the cod end was passed a light vessel, the trawler hoisted the net up to the otter board. Then the trawler turned 180 degrees. It repeated three to five times of fishing operations as the previous method. We recommend that the regulations allow nineteen side trawlers to catch like stern trawler, as well as the cooperative trawler and jigging vessel operations.

Annual and monthly pollock catches, CPUE and fishing grounds in the high seas of Bering Sea between 1984 and 1992 were analyzed for centroid distribution and bivariate ellipses of trawlers of South Korea, Japan, Poland and China. The catch amount differed by country as 56.1%, 21.7%, 20.4% and 1.8% were caught by Japan, Korea, Poland and China respectively. Japan recorded the highest mean CPUE at 5.7 ton/hour while it was 4.3 ton/hour for Poland, 3.9 ton/hour for Korea and 2.4 ton/hour for China. Cumulative catch varied by month, with the minimum of 137,000 ton in March and the maximum of 848,000 ton in December. Monthly mean of CPUE was the lowest in February (2.0 ton/hour) and the highest in November (6.3 ton/hour). The centroid distribution of monthly fishing ground was located at a southern spot (56° 05'N, 178° 55'E) in January, and it moved anti-clockwise toward 56° 37'N, 178° 24'E in December. Fishing grounds were scattered more by the east-west direction than by the south-north direction. The fishing grounds were similar for Korean, Japanese and Polish trawlers, but Chinese trawlers that fished only from July to December showed distinctively different fishing grounds from the others.

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).