• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.620-626
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• 1997

Annual biomasses of the hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus, were estimated from the biomass-based cohort analysis (Zhang, 1987), using data of annual catch in weight at age during $1970\~1988$ in Korean waters. Annual biomass of the hairtail was peaked at about 240,000 mt in 1975, and thereafter declined with a slight fluctuation. Adult biomass showed a peak in 1978 with about 55,000 mt. However, it has continuously decreased untill 1980 to the level of 9,000 mt and remained at this level till 1988. Age compositions of the hairtail in the 1980s differed greatly from those in the 1970s. The proportions of older hairtail (>4 years) were very low in the 1980s and even the biomasses of young hairtail $(1\~3\;years)$ were at a low evel in the 1980s compared with the level in 1970s. The 1973 and 1974 year classes appeared to be relatively dominant. The mean value of instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) in the 1980s was significantly different from that of the 1910s (P<0.05). Recruitment of the hairtail exhibited a similar trend with stock biomass until 1974, indicating the density-dependent Ricker curve.