Hydroacoustic Investigation of Demersal Fisheries Resources in the Southeastern Area of the Cheju Island , Korea - The Composition of Trawl Catches and the Influence of Net Efficiency on the Fish School Target Strength-

The combined hydroacoustic and bottom trawl surveys were conducted in the Cheju southeastern area by the training ship KAYA belong to Pukyong National University in July 1995 and the traning ship NAGASAKI MARl] belong to Nagasaki University in April 1994, respectively. The main purpose of the investigations was to provide the basic data for the management and the biomass estimation of commercially important demersal fish stocks in this area. Fish samples were collected by bottom trawling from 10 trawl stations randomly selected in the survey area, and the species and length compositions of trawl catches were examined. The fish school target strength for demersal fish aggregations was related to the catchability of trawl net with a 90 mm mesh codend. The most abundant species in the 1995 trawl stations were Japanese flying squid, sword tip squid and red horsehead and that of the 1994 trawl stations Japanese flying squid and blackmouth goosefish. The average weight per cubic meter of trawl catches collected by bottom trawling in the Cheju southeastern area were kg/ in the 1994 survey area and kg/ in the 1995 survey area, respectively. The catch data by cover net suggest that the efficiency of trawl net could affect the weight normalized target strength values for demersal fish aggregations. That is, the average target strength per unit of weight dropped from - 33.1 dB/kg using the total catch by codend and cover net to - 30.5 dB/kg using only the catch data by codend, and a change of2.6 dB/kg was observed.ange of2.6 dB/kg was observed.