Although Korea operates various systems and policies for the management of fisheries resources, it is judged that a more systematic resource management policy is needed due to the continuous decrease in the production of coastal and offshore fisheries. In this study, the catch capacity was analyzed using the DEA technique for coastal and offshore fisheries. As a result, despite the decrease in the amount of fisheries resources and the number of fishing vessels, there was a trend of increasing fishing capacity. As of 2019, the total maximum catch of offshore fishery was estimated at 820,007 tons. The actual catch was 548,159 tons and the CU was measured to be about 66.8%, which was analyzed to be an excess of about 33.2% of the catch. The total maximum catch of coastal fisheries was estimated at 187,887 tons. The actual catch was also the same value and the CU was measured to be about 100.0%. Thus, it was analyzed that there was no excess in catch. For the management of fisheries resources, it is necessary to manage the fishing capacity. To this end, policies such as scientific TAC should be promoted as well as expanding the reduction of fishing vessels.

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the octopus pot according to mesh sizes. Entering behavior of Octopus minor and bait (Macrophthalmus japonicus) escape rate on the mesh sizes of the pots were investigated for six times in indoor tank. The sea trials for evaluating the performance of Octopus minor pot to different mesh sizes (22, 20 and 18 mm) were conducted for six times from 2017 to 2018 in the coastal sea of Deukyang Bay, the Republic of Korea. Behavior patterns of contact pot to leaved pot were more frequent than contact pot to bait search. When the octopus contacted to the pot, there was no clear search behavior to distinguish the mesh sizes. Total catch of 46% was accounted for 18 mm pots, followed by 34% at 20 mm and 20% at 22 mm (P < 0.05). Catch per unit effort was calculated as 30 g/pot at 22 mm, 44 g/pot at 20 mm and 59 g/pot at 18 mm. As a result of evaluating 50% selection of mantle length and weight on the mesh sizes, mantle length (mm) and weight (g) were 84.6 and 147.8 in 22 mm, followed by 20 and 18 mm.

Tuna purse seine fishery in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) has been rapidly developed since early 1980s due to massive investment of major distant water fishing nations, and catch by purse seine fishery operating in the WCPO accounts for nearly half of the world’s tuna total catch. As fishing efficiency is reflected by not only improving of individual vessel’s capacity but also increasing number of active vessel, it is essential to understand vessel capacity for reliable assessment result on how fishery affects stock status of target species. In this study, fishing efficiency was analyzed by main factors which are representative of vessel capacity using fishing data and vessel information related to Korean tuna purse seine fishery operating in the western and central Pacific Ocean from 1992 to 2014. It showed that fishing efficiency of vessel tends to be higher when having larger vessel tonnage, higher engine power, lower vessel age and larger length of vessel. As for fishing efficiency by set type, CPUE of associated set with floating objects was generally higher than that of free school set, and CPUE of free school set seemed to have a greater effect on engine power and vessel age compared to other factors.

This study was conducted to analyze fishing capacity and bycatch by mesh size and entrance size of spring net pot conductedby water tank and field experiment. The water tank experiments were conducted by using traps with mesh size of 22 mm and entrance size of 120 mm and 140 mm, respectively in the water tank of NIFS. The field experiment was conducted using 5 kinds of spring net pot with mesh sizes of 20 mm, 22 mm, 35 mm and entrance size of 120 mm, 130 mm, 140 mm, 360 mm by coastal trap fishery vessel operating around the area of Geoje island. In the result of water tank experiments, the catch of conger eel was 1.5 times higher when using trap with entrance size of 140 mm than that of 120 mm. In the field experiment, when using same mesh size, the larger the entrance size, the higher amount of conger eel catch, bycatch and number of bycatch species. When using the same entrance size, the larger the mesh size, the lower amount of conger eel catch and number of bycatch species, whereas the amount of bycatch showed increasing trend.

The coastal stow net (stow net hereafter) in Korea is one of the major fishing methods for yellow croaker (Larimichthys polyactis), ribbon fish (Trichiurus lepturus), and anchovy (Engraulis japonicus). In terms of energy efficiency, the stow net fishery is more competitive than towing fishing gears such as trawl gears. The fishing vessels in stow net fishery have consumed less fossil fuel and also have had less carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere. however, the stow net fishery is necessary to be regulated due to its increased output of the fleet. Therefore, it is required for fisheries authorities to manage the fishing capacity or fishing power for the assurance of fishery’s sustainability. For fisheries management authorities, it is necessary to quantify data related to fishing capacity and fishing power to deploy fishery policy in a sustainable way. In terms of data for decision-making, Data envelopment analysis (DEA) method was conducted to estimate fishing capacity. Fishing power index (FPI) was also applied to calculate relative fishing power to approach the problem in a quantitative way.

This study was conducted to investigate the fishing efficiency of an improved LED fishing lamp for squids. A total of 31 fishing operations were carried out with six-crew commercial fishing vessel Haengbok-Ho (24 tons) on which 43.2kWLED was installed, along with 14 automatic jigging machines, from October 6 to November 16, 2012. The 19 fishing vessels with Haengbok-Ho were compared with a control subject was 24 tons or 29 tons. A total illuminating power ofmetal halide (MH) fishing lamps in the control fishing vessel was either 84kW or 120kW. The number of automatic jigging machines in the control vessels was 8-18 and the number of crews engaged for fishing operation was 3-13. Average fuel consumption of LED fishing vessels during fishing operation was 505.1l which led to an average fuel consumption of 42.7l per hour. LED fishing vessel andMH fishing vessel caught on an average 1,946 squids and 2,439 squids, respectively, during the study period. Crews (hand line and hand reel) caught about 2.2 times the automatic jiggingmachines for LED fishing vessel and about 2.1 times forMH fishing vessel. Meanwhile, catches by the fishing vessels with LED in the combined total number per one line of automatic jigging machine and per crew were 86.6% of that of the control fishing vessel with MH. Also, fishing vessels with LED per automatic jigging machine achieved 71.8% of catches of that with MH fishing lamp. The catches of squids per the fishing vessel with 1W LED fishing lamp were higher by more than 135.5% of that in the fishing vessel with MH, which showed a good fishing performance even with only the use of a LED fishing lamp.

Currently, environment-friendly and sustainable fisheries are one of the major issues among fisheries authorities. A variety of alternative management policies and projects are going on to enhance fisheries management systems and fishery resources such as a TAC management program and a VDS (Vessel Day Scheme) management scheme for distant water fishing nations in Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) convention area. These kinds of efforts among fisheries management authorities are aimed at limiting fishing capacity or fishing power. In terms of fisheries management, Fishing capacity and fishing power have increased the importance of the impact on a fishery and level of the resources. Increased fishing capacity and fishing power have caused not only depletion of fisheries resource, but also additional fishing cost. therefore, there is a clear need for authorities to manage fishing capacity and fishing power. It is also help ensure the conservation and sustainability of the fishery resources. Because of lack of data, absolute fishing power is difficulty to measure. The notion of relative fishing power is frequently used. In this study, relative fishing power was assessed using Mastuda (1991) method for fishing power index. The raw data for assessment was based on fishermen's logbook data from sampled fishing vessels in coastal snow crab gillnet fishery. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method was used to assess fishing capacity. DEA is a linear programming methodology to measure the efficiency of a set of entities called Decision-Making Units (DMUs). It was recommended by FAO for assessing capacity in fisheries.

Estimating fishing capacity is one of current hot issues in the international fisheries. It is because that increased fishing capacity has caused not only fish stocks to be reduced, but also additional fishing costs to be incurred without additional incomes, which resulted in decrease of economically viability of fisheries. In order to solve this problem, FAO adopted 'the International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing Capacity' in 1999 and recommended that member countries to measure fishing capacity and to implement the domestic action plan to reduce excess fishing capacity. This study is aimed at assessing fishing capacity of the octopus coastal trap fishery(OCTF) using data envelopment analysis(DEA) which is a method recommended by FAO. The DEA results on 10 individual OCTF vessels showed that the capacity utilization(CU) was a 0.93 on average, indicating some differences in CU among vessels(0.79-1.0). In addition, results of the sensitivity analysis revealed that under the current level of catch, the gross tonnage, horse power, days fished, and traps per trip could be reduced by 35%, 33%, 16%, and 18% on average, respectively.