Korean tuna purse seine fishery in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) began to operate in earnest in the early 1980s. Since then, the total catch has shown an increasing trend and the target species are skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacare) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). Based on the operational data of Korean tuna purse seine fishery from 2016 to 2020, the catch rates of target species (skipjack and yellowfin tunas) were analyzed by operation time for set types (free school and FAD sets). In the case of the free school sets, they were usually made from sunrise to sunset, and the catch rate was high before and after sunrise for skipjack tuna and before sunset for yellowfin tuna. On the other hand, for the FAD sets, more than 90% of them were made just before sunrise, and there were few operations during the daytime. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there are differences in the catch rate of skipjack and yellowfin tunas by operation time and by school type for Korean tuna purse seine fishery in the WCPO, which could be helpful in understanding its fishing characteristics and providing useful information for developing the stock indices of the target species.

Tuna purse seine fishery (TPF) constitute more than 60% of distant water fishery production in Korea based on a statistic of 2018, and 28 ships from four different companies were under operation at the western and central Pacific Ocean. On this research, common risk factors during TPF were investigated via enumeration of five years Korean fisherman’s insurance payment statement, followed by some counterplans to diminish the accident rate. The accident rate of TPF on the Pacific Ocean peaked by 43.0% in 2014 and constantly decreased to 23.0% until 2018, presenting an average of 33.6%. Meanwhile, the accident rate on the Indian Ocean reached the highest point 55.1% in 2014 and declined to 11.6% in 2016, having an average of 24.7%. The average accident rate of the Indian Ocean scored 8.9% lower than the rate of the Pacific Ocean, but no statistic significance was observed. Depending on the process of operation, ‘casting or hauling of net’ was the most frequent part that people received an injury (40.4%). When the accidents were classified by their types, ‘falling down’ was the most recurrent cause of the injuries (28.5%). At the point of severity, the worst injuries were induced by crush hazard. Considering aforementioned accident frequency and severity, all the factors on the accident type list were divided into three different groups including high risk, moderate risk, and common risk. This study is expected to contribute to the reduction of occupational accidents during the work of fishermen and establishment of a safety management system for distance water fishing vessels.

The research was analyzed the catch data of the five years (2016-2020) for six joint venture company tuna purse seiners in the Atlantic Ocean, with the aim of suggesting improvement measures for responsible and sustainable fishing according to changes of recommendation by International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) on the tropical tunas. In the last five years, the average catch of six tuna purse seiner gradually increased to 7,745 tons, 8,364 tons and 9,053 tons from 2016 to 2018, but decreased to 7,761 tons in 2019 and 6,214 tons in 2020. The reason for the decrease in fishing volume in 2019 and 2020 was the fluctuation of the formation of the cold water zone (22-23℃), and the total ICCAT convention area of FAD closure in January and February due to the expansion of the FAD closure area and poor free school catching during two months period, respectively. The analysis on fishing area showed that the percentage of fishing in the high sea was about 85% although the FAD closure area included the EEZ zone in coastal countries; the rise of the fishing license in coastal countries is also believed to be a factor. In order to overcome such situations and improve catching volume, it will be possible if excellent manpower is secured, school fishing is expanded, and the production of high value-added catch (purse seine special: PS).

The breakdown of the Korea-Japan fishing negotiations since 2016 has made it impossible for many domestic fishing vessels to operate in the Japanese EEZ water, and large purse seine fishing vessels are one of them. Mackerel is a highly migratory fish species, circulating in the East China Sea, South Sea, West Sea and East Coast throughout the year, and goes through a period of wintering, spawning, growth and feeding migration. In this study, in order to find out the dependence of large purse seine fishing vessels on mackerel fishing in the Japanese EEZ waters, we analyzed the characteristics of mackerel by large purse seine fisheries in the Japanese EEZ waters from 2010 to 2016. The catch and fishing details were investigated. The total catch of mackerel by large purse seine fishery, the average catch rate of mackerel in Japanese EEZ is 4 percent per year. The amount is estimated at 10.2 billion won per year. Although there was an effect, it was not judged to be a significant factor, and it was found that the amount of catch and fish price in the domestic waters had a greater influence on the total catch than the Japanese EEZ waters.

Recently, the annual emission rate of CO2 that is the main reason for domestic greenhouse gases is the third highest globally, which means it is an extremely serious issue. It is considered that these greenhouse gases affect climate changes. Especially, the emissions of CO2 in the fishing industry are nearly 4.11 million tons each year, occupying 0.7 percent of domestic total emissions. Therefore, this study clearly analyzed fuel consumption of major fish species over the recent five years focusing on large purse seines. It was revealed that mackerels occupied 55.7 percent of total fish catches of large purse seines and 57.5percent of total fishing earnings. Also, fuel consumption was 236.62 liters per ton caught and 179.51liters per million won earned.

In this study, the risk factors of coastal purse seine fisherman were analyzed through a survey of fishery workers of coastal purse seine fishery and the accident compensation insurance data of the fisheries workers of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC). The classified fishing operation accident data was analyzed through 4M (Man, Machine, Media, Management) model of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the accident prevention measures were presented using Harvey's 3E (Engineering, Education, Enforcement) model. The rate of accidents on coastal purse seinens each year was 75.8‰, 36.7‰ and 74.8‰ from 2015 to 2017. The accident frequency resulting from slipping was the highest, and the risk of a contact with gear was low. When comparing each insurance data, the average value of the contact with gear accident was the highest. This research result is expected to be important data in identifying and preventing safety hazards of coastal purse seiner fisherman in the future.

In order to understand characteristics on bycatch of Korean tuna purse seine fishery, especially operations associated with Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) in the Indian Ocean, we conducted analyses related to bycatch by school association type (unassociated school, FAD associated school and log associated school) using the data collected by scientific observers from 2016 to 2018. The FAD used by Korean tuna purse seine fishery in the Indian Ocean was a drifting FAD, which belongs to non-entangling FADs according to the category proposed by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). The target species of Korean tuna purse seine fishery are skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tunas, accounting for 99% of the total catch. The ratio of bycatch was 0.97% in total catch and the discard accounted for less than 1%, indicating that most catch was retained on board. In terms of bycatch ratio by school association type, it accounted for 0.12% for unassociated school, 1.09% for FAD associated school and 1.25% for log associated school. As for the catch proportion of shark species by school association type, it accounted for 0.01% for unassociated school, 0.11% for FAD associated school and 0.10% for log associated school, which showed that unassociated school type was the lowest to affect bycatch of non-target and shark species. Given the proportion of bycatch compositions, however, it is considered that FAD associated school of Korean tuna purse seine fishery has less caught bycatch species of non-target and shark, compared to other fleets operating in the Indian Ocean.

In the previous study, a shooting trajectory assuming that the purse seine shooting trajectory is a circle was proposed based on the speed and direction of the movement of the fish school. However, in practice, a trajectory that is closer to an elliptical shape than a circular one is often formed. In this study, the existing circular trajectory and the elliptical trajectory methods were compared under the same conditions to confirm the effectiveness of elliptical shooting trajectory. In addition, changes in the eccentricity of ellipses were derived to assess which type of ellipse was appropriate as a shooting trajectory. When a high-speed fish school moves in a straight line, an elliptical shooting trajectory with the eccentricity of 0.7 to 0.9 will be reasonable, and for middle-low speed fish school, an elliptical shooting trajectory with the eccentricity of 0.4 to 0.6 will be more useful than a circle shooting trajectory.

This paper examines the trend of restructuring and direction of management response in the Large Purse Seine Fishery. The large-scale fishing industry is one of the most popular fishing areas in the coastal area, and it has been developed by providing exclusive supplies of many types of catchy fish, such as mackerel and horse mackerel through physical productivity in fleet operations. However, the Large Purse Seine Fishery has been declining in profitability due to the deterioration of the business environment since 2000. It is at a crossroads whether it will disappear or regenerate as it is. The Large Purse Seine Fishery's current problems are: firstly, the continued deterioration of the fishery business balance and worsening labor problems, secondly, insufficient freshness management and quality control after landing, and thirdly, import competition. The fourth is the intensification of the market competition, which is the evolution of fishing variability and the increase in the proportion of small fish. The fifth is the reduction of the operating fishing ground due to the suspension of mutual fishing in Korea and Japan. To address these problems and suggest management response directions for the survival of large-scale fishing businesses is as follows. First, a sustainable production system should be established through strengthening resource management and promoting international fisheries cooperation. Second, the profitability of fishing management should be improved by introducing a low-cost supplier system and securing a stable labor force. Third, we should improve the leading and quality control of catch, improve the high value-added value of catch through brand development, and secure competitive advantage with imported produce. Finally, the government should establish a cooperative system among private sector, government, and research institutes to push ahead with these tasks and strengthen the competitiveness of the front and rear industries.

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between international oil price as a fuel cost in overseas fisheries and skipjack tuna price as a part of main products in overseas fisheries using monthly time series data from 2008 to 2017. The study also tried to analyze the change of fishing profits by fuel cost. For a time series analysis, this study conducted both the unit-root test for stability of data and the Johansen cointegration test for long-term equilibrium relations among variables. In addition, it used not only the Granger causality test to examine interactions among variables, but also the Vector Auto Regressive (VAR) model to estimate statistical impacts among variables used in the model. Results of this study are as follows. First, each data on variables was not found to be stationary from the ADF unit-root test and long-term equilibrium relations among variables were not found from a Johansen cointegration test. Second, the Granger causality test showed that the international oil prices would directly cause changes in skipjack tuna prices. Third, the VAR model indicated that the posterior t-2 period change of international oil price would have an statistically significant effect on changes of skipjack tuna prices. Finally, fishing profits from skipjack would be decreased by 0.06% if the fuel cost increases by 1%.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) selected fishing as the most dangerous group of jobs in the world, and it is well known in Korea as a 4D industry. Offshore large purse seine accounts for the largest portion of the fishing industry in the coastal region with high death rate and the accident rate. The repeated disaster rate survey by the Korea Maritime Institute (KMI) shows offshore large purse seiner is the highest at 22.3 percent and coastal gill nets and offshore stow net are following at 12.4 percent and 11.9 percent in order. Therefore, risk factors occurring in offshore large purse seiners were analyzed based on data from the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC) for three years from 2015 to 2017 and 4M (Man, Machine, Media, Management) 3E (Engineering, Education, Enforcement) techniques were used to provide a safe fishing environment. The number of accidents on offshore large purse seiners each year was more than 150, and the number of accidents on every fishing boats was as high as 17 percent in 2015. If the accident rate and the risk level were divided by insurance, the accident resulting from contact with machinery was the highest, and the risk of a contact with gear was low but frequently occurring. This was caused by collisions and contact with gear in situations where death and disappearance risk are not high, and accident types in situations where death and loss risk are considered to be contact with machinery, falls or other accidents. Through these analysis techniques, the frequency and risk of each type of accident on a offshore large purse seiners can be demonstrated, and it is expected to raise awareness of a safer fishing environment and contribute to the reduction of accidents.

우리나라에서 다랑어 선망어업은 국내 원양산업 중 업종별 생산량 1위의 업종으로, 1980년대 중 후반부터 연구가 지속적으로 수행되어왔으며, 기술의 현대화 연구가 활발히 진행되어왔다. 하지만, 어선에 탑재되는 보조작업선들은 원양어업에서 중요한 역할을 맡고 있음에도 관련 연구가 미흡한 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 보조작업선들 중 네트보트의 추진기를 프로펠러에서 워터제트 형태로 변경하고, 그에 따른 선형 변환을 통한 선체 부가저항 감소 및 운항성능을 향상하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 전산수치해석을 통해서 선박의 유체 성능 변화를 계산하였으며, 또한 기존 선형 및 추진기 변화 선형에 대해 모형선 수조시험을 수행하여 속도별 저항성능 비교를 수행하였다. 수치해석 및 1/7의 축소모형의 수조시험 결과, 기존의 네트보트 대비 45~58% 저항성능이 크게 향상되었으며, 이는 철망 제거에 의한 단순 침수표면적 및 선형개선에 의한 저항성능 향상을 확인하였다.