In response to the global interest and efforts towards reducing plastic use and promoting resource recycling, there is a growing need to establish methods for recycling discarded fishing gear. In Korea, various technologies are being developed to recycle discarded fishing gear, but significant technical and policy challenges still remain. In particular, biodegradable gill nets require a pre-treatment process to separate biodegradable materials from other substances and to remove salt before recycling. Therefore, this study aims to develop a pre-treatment device for recycling biodegradable gill nets and to evaluate the feasibility of recycling them.

We analyzed risk factors of coastal gillnet fishers during fishing process and considered work safety measures to reduce safety accidents during fishing using a UWB (ultra wideband) based positioning system. The static position accuracy of the UWB based positioning system was 45 cm. When entering a port, there is a risk of falling overboard. When casting a net, there was a risk of falling overboard due to being hit by fishing gear or guards, or getting caught in a buoy line or sinker line. When hauling a net, there is a risk of getting caught between fishing gear and net hauler, and the risk of musculoskeletal disorders due to repetitive work over a long period of time. Most safety accidents during work on fishing boats are blamed on human errors of the fisher and skipper, but safety accidents occur due to a mixture of mechanical and equipment factors, work and environmental factors, and management factors in addition to human errors. Therefore, the 4E were presented as countermeasures against the 4M, which are causes of safety accidents, and the proposed measures were used to identify risk factors for operation process, comply with work safety rules, and ensure the wearing of personal protective equipments. We need to reduce safety accidents during work by making it part of our daily routine. These research results can be used in the future for optimal placement of fishing gear and fishing nets in other coastal industries where safety accidents occur frequently.

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 analyzes the importance and implementation of countermeasures to reduce safety accidents that may occur during fishing in coastal gillnet fishing. Safety accidents that may occur in coastal gillnet fishing were classified into 56 measurement items in six areas: slips and trips, contact with machinery, falls, struck by object, musculoskeletal symptoms, and electrical shock. 35 fishermen belonging to coastal gillnet associations in Tongyeong and Namhae were selected as samples, and the importance and implementation of the proposed measurement items were investigated in the field. In addition, the results were evaluated visually by IPA analysis. As a result of the analysis, the importance of struck by object was the highest, and the implementation of slips and trips was the highest. On the other hand, prevention of musculoskeletal damage was found to be the lowest in both importance and implementation. The area with the most significant difference in importance and implementation by the classified area for measurement items was struck by object, and the area with the minor difference was slips and trips. Among the measurement items, the importance is highly recognized, but there are items with low implementation. To improve their level of implementation, countermeasures such as continuous education, economic support, and structural change of fishing boats should be prepared; moreover, policy support activities for implementation should be carried out.

We analyzed work safety risk factors, which are likely to occur during fishing in gillnet fishing vessels using the written verdict of the Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal from 2016 to 2020, and considered work safety management. Of the total of 37 fatal accidents, three cases in the East Sea, six cases in the South Sea, and 28 cases in the West Sea were very frequent. The accident rate per vessel by sea area (%) was 0.08% in East Sea, 0.12% in South Sea, and 0.40% in the West Sea. Based on the East Sea, the number of fatal accidents was 1.6 times higher in the South Sea and 5.4 times higher in the West Sea. Six cases (16.2%) occurred during departure and preparation for fishing in the fishing process, and all other 31 cases (83.8%) occurred during fishing operation. In the order of accident types, 21 cases (56.8%) of being struck by object, eight cases (21.6%) of contact with machinery and six cases (16.2%) of falls from height were found to be fatal accidents in gillnet fishery. Human factors, such as fishers’ carelessness and negligent safety management by captain accounted for 27 cases (73.0%) of the main cause, and 35 cases (94.6%) of the secondary cause. In addition to human factors such as fisher’s carelessness and negligent safety management by captain, mechanical factors, environmental factors and management factors must be improved together to reduce human casualties. These results are expected to be utilized as basic data for reducing safety accidents during the work of fishers.

The small yellow croaker (Larimichthys polyactis) is one of the representative high-class fish species in Korea. The catch of small yellow croaker in adjacent water fisheries has been continuously decreasing from 59,226 tons in 2011 to 19,271 tons in 2016. The small yellow croaker is caught by gillnet, stow net and bottom trawl, among which about 55~65% is caught by gillnet. For the sustainable use of small yellow croaker, the fishing power of small yellow croaker drift gillnet is very important. Therefore, the change of fishing power index were analyzed to identify the development of the vessel and gear technology that may have improved the fishing efficiency of the small yellow croaker drift gillnet fishery from 1960s to 2010s. Gross tonnage and horse power per fishing vessel was increased annually. The mesh size was 75.0 mm in the 1960s, but reduced to 60.6 mm in the 1980s and to 51.0 mm in the 2000s. In the 1960s, it was hauled out by manpower. However, the net hauler were modernized and supply rate was also increased since 1970. Due to the mechanization of the net hauler, the number (length) of used net gradually increased from 1.5 km in the 1960s to 7.5 km in the mid-1980s and to 15 km in 2010. Colour fish finders and positioning system were introduced and utilized from the mid-1980s. Surveys on the supply and upgrading of fishing equipment utilized visiting research. Therefore, the relative fishing power index in the small yellow croaker drift gillnet fishery increased from 1.0 in 1980 to 0.8 in 1970, to 1.1 in 1990, to 1.6 in 2000 and to 1.9 in 2010. The results are expected to contribute to reasonable fisheries stock management of the small yellow croaker drift gillnet fishery.

Fossil fuel combustion during fishing activities is a major contributor to climate changes in the fishing industry. The Tier1 methodology calculation and on-site continuous measurements of the greenhouse gas were carried out through the use of fuel by the coastal and offshore gillnet (blue crabs and yellow croaker) and trap (small octopus and red snow crab) fishing boats in Korea. The emission comparison results showed that the field measurements are similar to or slightly higher than the Tier1 estimates for coastal gillnet and trap. In offshore gillnet and trap fisheries, Tier1 estimate of greenhouse gases was about 1,644-13,875 kg CO2/L, which was more than the field measurement value. The CO2 emissions factor based on the fuel usage was 2.49-3.2 kg CO2/L for coastal fisheries and 1.46-2.24 kg CO2/L for offshore fisheries. Furthermore, GHG emissions per unit catch and the ratio of field measurement and Tier1 emission estimate were investigated. Since the total catch of coastal fish was relatively small, the emission per unit catch in coastal fisheries was four to eight times larger. The results of this study could be used to determine the baseline data for responding to changes in fisheries environment and reducing greenhouse gas emission.

The objective of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the influence of the netting hanging ratio on fishing performance of gillnet. A total of six tests was carried out using three kinds of gillnets with different horizontal hanging ratios (0.3, 0.5 and 0.7) on the basis commercial gillnet of mesh size of 60 mm used in Yeosu Dolsan. As a result of the test fishing operation, catches of the net with hanging ratio 0.3 and the shortest float length was 1.34 times larger than the net with hanging ratio 0.7. The caught species in experimental testes was lager in the net with hanging ratio 0.3 than the net with hanging ratio 0.7. The catch rate per unit area (CPUE) is on the silver croaker with the largest catches in tests as follows. The net with hanging ratio 0.3 net was 89.45 g/m2, hanging ratio 0.5 net was 41.63 g/m2, and hanging ratio 0.7 net was 24.50 g/m2. The net with hanging ratio 0.3 (float line length of 45 m) exhibited the largest CPUE value.

This study aims to reduce the force exerted to the buoy of the gillnet by wave and current. Five buoy models were selected for experiments and their rope tensions under wave and current action were compared. Five models were EL (ellipsoid), EL-H (ellipsoid-hole), SL (streamlined body), SP (sphere) and CL (cylinder, traditional type). In the first experiment, the Five models were tested without any attachment. In the second experiment, a flagpole was attached to each model. As a result, in the condition without flagpole, the tensions of four models with the exception of the CL were about a half of that of the CL. In the condition with flagpole, the tension of all models was twice larger than that without flagpole. Thus, a new model was suggested to improve the problem, which has a combined body that of a flagpole and a buoy Three new models of CL-L (long and thin cylinder), LF (leaf shape) and LF-F (leaf shape with fin) were designed. Also a cylinder type (CLD) with a flagpole as a control was included in the experiment. As a result, the LF-F had the smallest tension and a half tension of the CLD. Therefore, it is supposed that the flagpole and buoy combined model could reduce the tension on buoy rope and contribute to improve the gillnet loss problem.

The Fishing gear loss has been repeated every year in the West Sea; however, there has been no solution. So fisher men have undergone economic loss every year. Thus it is required to reduce the loss of fishing gear. In this study to find out the reason that the fishing gear is lost in the Sea, 10 years data of wave and current for 6 locations in the West Sea were investigated and a numerical modelling were conducted into the behaviour of a gillnet in wave and current. The fishing gear was modelled with the mass spring model. As a result, it came out into the open that the location where fishing gear loss occurred most frequently was Choongnam province. The height of the maximum significant wave in this province was 6.7 m and the period of that was 4.4 second. The maximum current speed was 0.7 m/s. As a result of simulation with these data, it was revealed that the buoy is one of the reasons to decrease the holding power of the gillnet. For example, the tension of anchor rope was decreased to 50% while the drag coefficient or volume of buoy was decreased to 25%. So it is predicted that an improvement of the buoy contributes to the reduction of the gillnet loss.

Experiments for catch and cluster analysis on the catch by gillnet for the Pacific herring were conducted using traditional nylon net (PA) and developing biodegradable net (PBS) with different monofilaments of #2 (=0.23 mm) and #3 (=0.28 mm) in diameter between 2011 and 2012, and of #2, #2.5 and #3 in 2013 in the eastern coastal waters of Samcheok, Korea. The total catch during the experiments was 3,337kg in weight and 16,757 individuals in number. Though the catch ratio of the Pacific herring in 2011 and 2012 was 97.4% and 98.7%, respectively, that of the Pacific herring in 2013 was 73.6% as the biggest and followed by goldeye rockfish (8.6%), black edged sculpin (8.4%), atka mackerel (7.2%) and Alaska cod (1.0%). The ANOVA analysis on the total catch in relation to net material showed that there was not statistically significant difference at the 5% level between nylon net (PA) and biodegradable net (PBS) (p=0.91). With the cluster analysis on the catch in relation to net material (PA, PBS) and twine thick (#2, #3), it showed the influence of net material on the catch was greater than that of twine diameter in this experiment. From the test of homogeneity on the catch by the gillnet with PA and PBS in which several species were caught in 2013, there was not statistically significant homogeneity in relation to net material (p<0.005). That meant the traditional gillnet of nylon (PA) was more efficient than the biodegradable (PBS) gillnet to catch several kinds of fish, however the PBS gillnet was better than the PA gillnet to catch the target Pacific herring.

Estimations on population ecological parameters of the small yellow croaker, Larimichthy polyactis in Korean waters, were calculated using catch data based on coastal and offshore drift gillnet fishery and biological data from 2010 to 2012. The population ecological parameters included survival rate, instantaneous coefficient of natural and fishing mortality and age/length at first capture. The survival rate (S) of the small yellow croaker was estimated to be 0.20 from catch curve method. The instantaneous coefficient of natural mortality (M) was estimated to be 0.46/year with Alverson and Carney method. The instantaneous coefficient of total mortality (Z) was 1.611/year, used to be transformed the survival rate and the instantaneous coefficient of fishing mortality (F) were 1.153/year. The length at first capture (Lc) was 19.1cm by Pauly method, and the age at first capture (tc) was 1.303 years of the small yellow croaker by the coastal and offshore drift gillnet fishery.

The mesh selectivity of the gillnet for Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) was examined in field experiments with four different mesh sizes (63, 69, 75 and 81mm) from June to July, 2013 in the coastal areas of Imwon in Gangwon province. The fishing performance tests were conducted with a commercial Pacific herring gillnet and a biodegradable gillnet for Pacific herring together selectivity tests. The filed tests were carried out the total 11 times. The master curve of selectivity was estimated by the extended Kitahara's method. In the results, the catch number of Pacific herring was 9,409 (2,203kg) and occupied 84.2% in total catches weight. The optimal mesh size for 50% retention on first maturity size (female, 250mm) of Pacific herring was estimated as 64.5mm by master selectivity curves. The fishing performance of the biodegradable gillnet was showed to be equivalent with commercial gill for Pacific herring.