Species composition and seasonal variation of the aquatic organism caught by commercial fishing of the pot and gill net in the coastal waters off Taean, Korea

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.