Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, a keystone species with significant ecological and commercial importance, is declining globally throughout much of its range. While traditional fishing equipment methods remain limited, new sensitive and rapid detection methods should be developed to monitor fisheries resources. To monitor the presence and quantity of C. pallasii from environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from seawater samples, a pair of primers and a TaqMan® probe specific to this fish based on mitochondrial cytochrome b (COB) sequences were designed for the real-time PCR (qPCR) assay. The combination of our molecular markers showed high specificity in the qPCR assay, which affirmed the success of presenting a positive signal only in the C. pallasii specimens. The markers also showed a high sensitivity for detecting C. pallasii genomic DNA in the range of 1 pg~100 ng rxn-1 and its DNA plasmid containing COB amplicon in the range of 1~100,000 copies rxn-1, which produced linear standard calibration curves (r2=0.99). We performed a qPCR assay for environmental water samples obtained from 29 sampling stations in the southeastern coastal regions of South Korea using molecular markers. The assay successfully detected the C. pallasii eDNA from 14 stations (48.2%), with the highest mean concentration in Jinhae Bay with a value of 76.09±18.39 pg L-1 (246.20±58.58 copies L-1). Our preliminary application of molecular monitoring of C. pallasii will provide essential information for efficient ecological control and management of this valuable fisheries resource.

We measured the target strength according to the swimming tilt angle and size change for Pacific herring at the frequency of 70 kHz as the basic database in order to estimate its abundance as well as density in the survey area using the hydroacoustical method. The number of the sample used in this study was 14 individuals, and its size distribution by fork length ranged between 20.3 and 29.8 cm and wet weight was measured between 187.6 and 269.9 g. The variation of TS according to the swimming angle (-30~30°) was measured between 10.3 and 18.8 dB in frequency range, the highest value was measured at head-down of Pacific herring in the tilt angle range between 5 and 9 deg. of its swimbladder. The relationship between TS–FL of herring was the same as TS = 20log10 (FL) – 66.79 when its swimming tilt angle in the daytime (3.8 ± 6.0°) and nighttime (-3.2 ± 13.6°), respectively.

Pacific herring Clupea pallasii eggs were attached to the gill net in Korean coastal waters off Busan. To conservation and management the eggs attached to the gill net, we followed the natural hatching in coastal waters from five days after fertilization to the hatching finished, where the temperature was 9°C. The diameter of fertilized eggs was 1.24–1.55 mm (n= 50), and had a segmented pale yellow yolk, no oil globule. Natural hatching had started by 10 days after fertilization. Mass hatching occurred around 11–12 days after fertilization, most of eggs separated from the gill net. Therefore, when the Pacific herring eggs attached in gill net, should be natural hatching–induced in coastal waters during 12–14 days.

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.

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.

Physical characteristics of PA (Polyamide) gill net and biodegradable gill net made by PBS (Polybutylene succinate) (mesh size 63mm, mesh thickness number 2, 2.5, 3) were analyzed to investigate catching efficiency of the biodegradable gill net for Pacific herring. Total 11 numbers of catching efficiency tests were carried out using commercial fishing vessel at Imwon port in Kangwon province from May to June 2013. The amount of catches were 1,535.7kg (18 species) through the catching efficiency tests and it is expected that the practicalization of biodegradable gillnet is possible because there is no difference for catches between PA gillnet and PBS gillnet. Catches of herring according to the thickness of net twine was the highest at No.2 and the thicker net twine tends to decrease the catches.

날치 알과 이의 대체 어란인 열빙어 알 및 청어 알의 안전성과 식품성분 특성에 대하여 살펴보았다. 날치 알의 크기는 열빙어 알 및 청어 알에 비하여 컸다. 날치 알의 수분 함량과 염도는 페루산이 중국산에 비하여 수분의 경우 높으나 염도의 경우 낮았고, 인도네시아산에 비하여는 수분의 경우 낮았으나, 염도의 경우 높았다. 한편, 기타 어란의 수분 함량과 염도는 열빙어 알의 경우 각각 80.4% 및 3.2%, 청어 알의 경우 각각 65.4% 및 20.0%를 나타내었다. pH, 휘발성염기질소, 중금속, 생균수 및 대장균군의 결과에 의하면 이들 5종의 어란의 경우 여러 가지 가공소재로 이용하여도 위생적인 문제는 없으리라 판단 되었다. 어란의 주요 지방산은 날치 알의 경우 16:0(27.8-30.5%), 18:1n-9(7.2-8.0%), 20:5n-3 (5.6-8.2%) 및 22:6n-3(22.0-25.6%)이었고, 열빙어 알 및 청어 알의 경우 이외에도 16:1n-7(6.7 -9.3%)이었다. 어란의 총아미노산 함량은 9.44-10.39 g/100g 범위이었고, 주요 아미노산은 aspartic acid, glutamic acid, leucine 및 lysine이었다. 날치 알의 무기질 함량은 인도네시아산의 아연을 제외 한다면 열빙어 알 및 청어 알의 무기질 함량보다 높았다. 관능 검사 결과에 의하면 열빙어 알과 청어 알 에 비하여 날치 알이 색과 조직감에서는 우수하였으나, 향은 차이가 없었다.