Using environmental DNA (eDNA) in the fisheries and oceanography fields, research on the diversity of biological species, the presence or absence of specific species and quantitative evaluation of species has considerably been performed. Up to date, no study on eDNA has been tried in the area of fisheries acoustics in Korea. In this study, the biomass of a dominant species in the northwestern waters of Jeju Island was examined using 1) the catch ratio of the species from trawl survey results and 2) the ranking ratio of the species from the eDNA results. The dominant species was Zoarces gillii, and its trawl catch ratio was 68.2% and its eDNA ratio was 81.3%. The Zoarces gillii biomass from the two methods was 7199.4 tons (trawl) and 8584.6 tons (eDNA), respectively. The mean and standard deviation of the acoustic backscattering strength values (120 kHz) from the entire survey area were 135.5 and 157.7 m 2 /nm 2 , respectively. The strongest echo signal occurred at latitude 34° and longitude 126°15’ (northwest of Jeju Island). High echo signals were observed in a specific oceanographic feature (salinity range of 32-33 psu and the water temperature range of 19-20℃). This study was a pilot study on evaluating quantitatively aquatic resources by applying the eDNA technique into acoustic-trawl survey method. Points to be considered for high-quality quantitative estimation using the eDNA to fisheries acosutics were discussed.

한국 남해안 금호열도 주변 다도해역의 조류특성과 해수순환 구조를 파악하기 위해 대조와 소조시 ADCP bottom tracking을 이 용한 25시간 선박 항주관측을 실시하였다. 대조시 낙조와 창조 방향은 남동-북서이며, 최강유속은 표층 약 40 cm/s이다. 개도주변은 지형적 특성으로 주변해역의 탁월유향과 다르고, 유향·유속의 분산이 크다. 전 구간 표~저층 흐름에 두드러진 경압모드 성분은 없었다. 이는 좁은 수로와 얕은 수심, 빠른 유속으로 지형성와류나 eddy로 인한 연직혼합이 활발했음을 나타낸다. 소조시 조류는 남남동-북북서, 평균유속은 대조의 85 %이다. 탁월유향은 대조보다 우세하지 못하고 지속시간도 짧다. 흐름은 연직방향 유속시어, 수평와류, 비대칭 조류혼합으로 물질의 수평·연직이동이 왕성할 것으로 추정된다. 일평균조류는 개도 서~북서 수로해역이 북서~북동, 금오도 서쪽은 서남서~남남서 방향 최 대 21 cm/s의 흐름이 존재한다. 소리도 서쪽에는 좌선환류나 와류가 형성되었다.

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).

Visual census and hydro-acoustic survey was carried out at Ulju small scale marine ranching area (MRA) to estimate demersal fish aggregations on September and November 2013. In this hydro-acoustic survey, the authors combined an image sonar with a scientific echo sounder to monitor an underwater situation and compare two acoustic data. Consequently, visual census survey was useful to estimate fish species composition for hydro-acoustic survey, because it is easy to identify aggregated fish species and overcome limits on a fishing depth and ability of an conventional fishing gear like a bottom gill-net or a fish trap at marine ranching area. Mean fish density was estimated as 0.757 g/m2 on September and 0.219 g/m2 on November and Fish abundance was finally calculated as 1.51ton (coefficient of variation, CV=13.1%) on September and 0.44ton (CV=47.7%) on November, respectively. Hydro-acoustic survey combined with the image sonar was useful to monitor fish aggregations and estimate fish stocks around artificial reefs at shallow coastal MRA. We were able to easily identify the underwater structures like an artificial reef and a fishing rope as well as fish aggregations from image sonar data. Therefore, the method was effective to separate unwanted echo signals in acoustic data of scientific echo sounder.

Hydro-acoustic surveys with scientific echo sounder were carried out to estimate the total density and distribution of the juvenile cod in Jinhae bay, Korea. The surveys were conducted 4 times from May to June using 2 frequency method (38kHz and 120kHz) and beam trawl were used to investigate the species composition. Also the catch amounts of juvenile cod were compared with the cod density estimated by the hydro-acoustic method. It was confirmed that the juvenile cod was stayed in Jinhae bay in early June and There was the relationship between catch of juvenile cod and the estimated density by hydro-acoustic survey. The number of juvenile cod was consequently about 365,000 fish (CV 12.9%) in May and 113,000 fish (CV 9.2%) in May based on the hydro-acoustic data.

Hydro-acoustic survey was carried out to estimate a fish distribution at marine ranching area and aggregated fish schools at artificial reef area in Oeyeondo, Korea. The survey system was set up with DGPS system, scientific echo sounder (EK60, Simrad Co.), and ECDIS (Mecys. Co. LTD). A track survey and a random survey was respectively applied to the marine ranching area (474.4ha) and to the artificial reef area (within a radius of 300m). As the result, fish distribution and MVBS values in marine ranching area showed that created fisheries resources didn't come to be abundant yet as to appear fish distribution in all of the area. In the artificial reef area, it was, however, able to detect many fish school signals on the top of and around artificial reefs and to confirm the luring effect of artificial reefs.