The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of management performance in the remaining offshore fishing industry after the resource management-oriented fisheries structure improvement policy by the fisheries vessel buy-back program and Total Allowable Catch (TAC). The results of the analysis of the determinants of management performance of offshore fishing can be summarized as follows. First, based on the management performance determinant model of offshore fishing, it is confirmed that the government's resource-managed fishing structure improvement policy, such as the fishing boat reduction project and the TAC policy, is improving the management performance of the resource-managed remaining fishing boat. Second, looking at the specific management performance determinants based on the management performance model of offshore fishing, the leverage ratio (TLTA), which is the total debt ratio, shows a statistically significant positive (+) relationship with management performance, which increases management performance directly proportional to the leverage ratio. The increase in the leverage ratio (total debt ratio) was expected to lead to a high interest cost burden, resulting in a reverse (-) financial leverage effect; however, rather a positive (+) financial leverage effect occurred with a high profit covering interest costs. The total catch (TCATCH) has a positive (+) relationship with management performance at a statistical significance level of less than 1%, indicating that an increase in catch is improving or increasing the management performance of fishing companies. The selling price (UPRICE) shows a positive (+) relationship with management performance at a very high statistical significance level of less than 1%, and it can be seen that high fishing prices are a major factor in improving or increasing the management performance of offshore fishing. On the other hand, fishing vessel tonnage (TON), fishing vessel horsepower (RHP), and operating days (WDAYS), which indicate have a statistically significant negative (-) relationship with management performance, which deviates from the existing fisheries common sense that the size of fishing vessel tonnage and fishing vessel horsepower and the increase in the number of operating days is proportional to management performance. As a result of the increase in fishing vessel tonnage, horsepower, and the number of operating days, it was confirmed that the higher the fishing cost, such as oil costs, is worsening the management performance of fishing companies. Participation in TAC has a statistically significant positive (+) value with management performance, indicating that the remaining offshore fishing companies participating in TAC are improving or increasing management performance compared to offshore fishing companies that do not. Third, there are conflicting results depending on the industry as a result of estimating the management performance determinants of offshore fishing by TAC participation, and TAC participation had a negative impact on management performance in anchovy boat seine and southern west sea bottom trawl in fishing industry while TAC participation had a positive impact on management performance in large stow nets on anchor in fishing industry.
In this study, the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) technique was used to analyze the risk of expected risk factors and fishing possibilities during gillnet fishing within the floating offshore wind farms (floating OWF). For this purpose, the risks that may occur during gillnet fishing within the floating offshore wind farms were defined as collisions, entanglements, and snags. In addition, the risk factors that cause these risks were classified into three upper risk factors and ten sub risk factors, and the three alternatives to gillnet fishing available within the floating OWF were classified and a hierarchy was established. Lastly, a survey was conducted targeting fisheries and marine experts and the response results were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, among the top risk factors, the risk was the greatest when laying fishing gear. The risk of the sub factors for each upper risk was found to be the highest at the berthing (mooring), the final hauling of fishing net, and the laying of the bottom layer net. Based on the alternatives, the average of the integrated risk rankings showed that allowing full navigation/fisheries had the highest risk. As a result of the final ranking analysis of the integrated risk, the overall ranking of allowing navigation/fisheries in areas where bottom layer nets were laid was ranked the first when moving vessels within the floating OWF was analyzed as the lowest integrated risk ranking of the 30th at the ban on navigation/fisheries. Through this, navigation was analyzed to be possible while it was analyzed that the possibility of gillnet fishing within the floating OWF was not high.
This study aimed to identify the actual catch situation of offshore dredge gear which is newly regulated in the legislation. It’s also conducted to identify the species composition, weight of the catch including the target species and incidental catches, and to provide the basic information necessary for the resource management of aquatic organisms caught by offshore dredge. During the investigation period (from September 2022 to May 2023), a total of 61 species appeared in the test operation sea of Boryeong, Chungcheongnam-do and Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do, with 31 species of fishes, 11 species of malacostraca, six species of gastropoda, five species of bivalvia, three species of cephalopoda, three species of asteroidea, one species each of asteroidea and holothuroidea appeared. According to the results of the test operation conducted in September and November 2022, the non-catch season of Atrina (Servatrina) pectinata, 1,203 shellfishes were caught out of 2,979 caught in number, showing a bycatch rate of 59.6%, and by weight, 157.9 kg of shellfish was caught out of the total catch of 448.4 kg, showing a bycatch rate of 64.8%. On the other hand, in February and May 2023, the catch season for Atrina (Servatrina) pectinata, 3,692 fishsells were caught out of the 4,232 catches in total, showing a bycatch rate of 12.8%, and by weight, 1,185.0 kg of shellfish was caught out of the total catch of 1,293.2 kg, showing an 8.3% bycatch rate.
To identify sand crab Ovalipes punctatus populations and establish management units for each population, mtDNA COI regions were analyzed. As a result, the clade of O. punctatus in Korea were separated by two with a genetic distance of 0.17 – 2.08%, and there was no significant difference in the result of pairwise FST values representing genetic differentiation by sampling areas (p > 0.05). Also, no geographical separation found in the distribution of haplotypes and the results of the haplotype network. This result suggests that O. punctatus larvae were dispersed for a long time by the ocean current by suffering meroplanktonic period for 1 month, and increased the gene flow due to the development of the swimming legs for the increase in mobility. Therefore, in the results of mtDNA COI region analysis of O. punctatus in the East Sea, Yellow Sea, South Sea and East China Sea (Ieodo) of Korea, no clear intra-species differentiation was found.
With the restriction of foreigners’ entry into Korea due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fishery industry faced significant challenges in supplying migrant workers. In response to this, there is growing interest in methods that could facilitate the stable employment of migrant workers. This paper investigates whether the current system used for the employment of migrant workers in the fishery industry, which is highly dependent on them, adequately performs its function of providing a stable and skilled workforce amid the intensified labor shortage resulting from decreasing numbers of households with employment in the fishery and the aging Korean fishermen. To this end, past studies and government documents pertaining to the current system were analyzed, and a survey targeting the owners of offshore fishing boats that employ migrant workers was conducted. A total of 147 owners of fishing boats responded to the survey, and the data of 499 migrant workers employed by them were used for the analysis. The analysis indicated that the migrant fishermen had difficulty in acquiring minimum scores for the change of visa status according to the criteria for the Skilled Worker Points System. Furthermore, distinct differences were found between the characteristics and working conditions of migrant workers employed through the Employment Permit System (EPS) and the Foreign Seamen System. Based on this result, this paper suggests the reorganization of the skilled migrant worker system in the fishery industry and the expansion of the regional specialized visa pilot project.
In this study, the vertical distribution of giant jellyfish analyzed echo counting method and such survey methods as sighting and trawl were used to compare its density estimates. In May and July 2021, surveys were conducted in the East China Sea and the coastal waters of Korea. As a result, Nemopilema nomurai were evenly distributed in all water layers in East China Sea in May and July. When considered the correlation by each survey methods, it is possible to identify jellyfish in the surface area by sighting method and using sampling net; however, it has a low correlation with acoustic estimates due to marine environmental factor such as weather condition, wind and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the result can be utilized by basic data when estimating jellyfish’s distribution patterns and density estimates from each survey methods hereafter.
In this study, factors such as improvement of a fishing process and safety, reduction of the labor force and headcount and development of the automation technology for offshore (eel and crab) pot fishing vessels were analyzed. A questionnaire survey was conducted to analyze and select the key factors using independent/paired sample t-test and correlation analysis, and a living lab was operated with ship owners, skippers and experts to discuss practical needs of the site. From the result of questionnaire survey and field requirements, it was possible to understand the level of awareness of ship safety, general safety equipment, fishing work process and fishing safety equipment from the point of view of the field. In addition, there were differences in the measurement results of each items because the working environment and experience were different according to the position of the ship owner and the skipper. The results of the questionnaire survey and various perceptions of field stakeholders were reflected when analyzing the fishing system and fishing process to choose the development equipment applicable to the field. From the analysis results, the selected development equipment based on the fishing equipment and process currently in operation are pot washing device, catch separation and fish hold injection device, length limit regulations and bait ejection device after use, automatic main line winding device, bait crusher, automatic (crab) pot hauling separator and so on.
The Korean stow net is a fishing method that utilizes the changing direction of the net entrance with the tidal current. This study attempted to obtain basic data from the recent offshore stow net fisheries to improve the gear by analyzing the dynamic behavior of the nets affected by current speed and direction using computer simulations. A numerical calculation was performed at a current speed of 0.5 knot between 2.5 knot at each 0.5 knot. The time taken for the gear opening was the longest from 0.5 knot at 1,500 seconds and the shortest from 2.5 knot at 450 seconds in the simulations. In all cases, the net width and tension at net deployment gradually decreased as the current speed decreased. However, the net height tended to increase inversely proportional to the current speed. During the net rotation, the net height was maintained at all cases. The net width and tension fluctuated, but the regularity was very low. In this study, the calculated simulation data showed that the opening efficiency decreased proportional to the current speed. The opening efficiency is related to the catching efficiency; therefore, it is necessary to improve the gear to enhance its opening efficiency.
This study is to evaluate the prior economic feasibility of the off-shore fisheries stock enhancement project. The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows: first, offshore fisheries stock enhancement project shall be implemented by dividing them into 1st·2nd·3rd projects for efficient promotion. The 1st·2nd·3rd projects will be conducted in a total of 50 locations (the eastern sea, the western sea, the southern sea, and the jeju sea areas), and the project period per unit will be five years, which will cost 1 trillion won. Second, according to the results of the survey on public awareness, the most consumed marine species in Korea over the past year were analyzed in the order of mackerel, hairtail, squid, yellow corvina, blue crab, and cod. The dominant response to the reason for consuming marine products in Korea was healthy well-being food and safe food. In addition, 67.9% of them have hesitated to purchase offshore fish species over the past year due to high prices, indicating that they are burdened by high prices. On the other hand, 79% of the respondents said that the government’s policy was insufficient, according to a survey on whether the government's coastal marine resource creation policy was sufficient. Third, as a result of preliminary economic analysis of offshore fisheries stock enhancement project, the benefit-cost ratio is 4.01, net present price is 1,283.7 billion won, and internal rate of return is 91.7% per year, which means that the economic analysis ensures the feasibility of the projects. The results of this study provide useful information on securing or organizing budgets for offshore fisheries stock enhancement project by securing economic feasibility as a national infrastructure project that increases fishery income and public benefits such as consumption of marine products.