Correlation between water temperature and catch at a set net in Yeosu Bay, Korea

Data for fish species composition and the catch of fish species were obtained from the daily trading records for the period between April and December 2016 to 2018 at the set net fishing grounds in Yeosu Bay, Korea. The annual mean total catch was 195.8 tons, and the dominant species was the Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius), which accounts for about 55 percent of the total catch. The catch increased in spring and autumn. Increase in spring is caused by not Spanish mackerel but other fish while the increase in autumn by Spanish mackerel. The distinct increase of the catch in summer, 2017 was due to the new recruitment of small-sized Spanish mackerel, which was probably to be from the fish population hatched in spring in the East China Sea. Our results showed a strong correlation between water temperature and catch fluctuation. The catch increases with the increase in water temperatures, and the periodic pattern of the water temperature and catch fluctuation is more consistent in the offshore waters, in which warm current flows, than in the coast waters.