Factors Affecting the Wintering Habitat of Major Fishery Resources in Southwestern Korean Waters

We investigated the temperature and salinity effects on the major fish species in the wintering grounds based on trawl surveys and oceanographic observations in the southwestern waters of Korea during March-early April in 2002-2003. The influence area of warm Kuroshio water was limited to the southwestern area of Korea in 2003 with a range of 7.7-16.3°C, 32.54-34.70 of salinity, wider than that of 2002. The number of fish species and density of major fish species in 2003 were higher than in 2002. Geographical estimation showed high proportions of species number and catches in the areas around Jeju Islands, southwestern waters and the southeastern coast of Korea. Five species; silver pomfret (Pampus echinogaster), hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus), anchovy (Engraulis japonicus), small yellow croaker (Larimichthys polyactis) and yellow goosefish (Lophius litulon) were most abundant, composing above 60% of the total catch in 2002 and 2003. More than 50% of catch in the major fish species were mostly distributed in the range of 9.5-11.0°C of temperature and 33.1-33.9 of salinity. Non-parametric estimation for the major species showed the 1st mode around 10°C and the 2nd mode at 8-9°C in 2002 and 11-14°C in 2003. A m o n g major fish species, hairtail was principally composed of juveniles, and larger individuals were caught in southeastern waters. These results are considered to be helpful for the areabased fishery management strategy for the wintering grounds of the Yellow Sea and coastal waters of Korea.