Species composition and seasonal variation of aquatic organism in the coastal waters off Taean, Korea were investigated using catches by commercial fishing of the pot and gill net from April 2010 to January 2011. A total of 58 species, 10,602 individuals and 547,569g of aquatic organism were collected during the study. Aquatic organism were composed of 22 species of Pisces, 20 species of Crustacea, 8 species of Gastropoda, 3 species of Echinodea, 2 species of Cephalopoda and Bivalvia, and 1 species of Holothuroidea. 41 species in 9 orders and 22 families were collected by the pot, and 28 species in 15 orders and 22 families were collected by the gill net. Volutharpa ampullacea was the most dominant in the pot, while Okamejei kenojei was the most dominant in the gill net. These two species accounted for 73.9% in the number of individuals, and 64.4% in biomass. The number of species was high in spring in the pot, and autumn in the gill net. The number of individuals and biomass were highest in winter and summer respectively in the pot, and summer in the gill net. The number of species of the consignment quantity caught by commercial fishery of the pot and gill net in Mohang was 12 and 14 respectively. Cluster analysis based on species composition of the 18 most common species showed that the species were separated into 3 different group. Group A was composed of species which were abundant in spring, group B was composed of species which were abundant in summer and autumn, and group C was composed of year-round residents.

With growing interest in biodiversity in rice paddies, efficient sampling methods for quantitative evaluation of aquatic macroinvertebrates are needed because of their important role in rice paddies’ food webs. For this reason, we sought a proper sampling method through comparing data collected by using aquatic net, quadrat, and core in rice paddies located in Chuncheon-si, Kangwon-do, Hongseong-gun, and Chungcheongnam-do. Because the frame of the net was rectangular and had a flat bottom, the area, sampledwith the aquatic net, was calculated by multiplying the net width by the sweeping length, All samples were taken from the space between the rows of rice plants. Twenty four taxa of macroinvertebrates were collected in Chuncheon and 28 taxa in Hongseong. In Chuncheon, the number of taxa was similar among three sampling methods (17-18 taxa), but the number of individuals was different (aquatic net, 1,317/㎡, quadrat, 1,368/㎡, core, 1,810/㎡). In Hongseong, the number of taxa sampled by aquatic net was the highest (aquatic net, 25 taxa, quadrat, 21 taxa, core, 16 taxa), but the core was the highest in the number of individuals (aquatic net, 1,586/㎡, quadrat, 2,595/㎡, core, 3,704/㎡). The efficiency of samplers differed among taxa. Most of aquatic insect taxa were more abundant in the aquatic net, while those living on or in the paddy substratum such as Oligochaeta and Chironomidae were collected more in the quadrat sampler. To collect quantitative data for aquatic insects as well as to produce inventory of rare taxa, we suggest, based on samplers used in this study, to take quantitative samples of 6 replications from each of the edge and inner zones of a rice paddy by using an aquatic net, and to take qualitative samples both from sides of levees and the inner zone of rice paddy by using an aquatic net.