Abstract

In order to estimate the ecological parameters of the population, short-necked clams, Ruditapes philippinarum, were collected from Jindu coast at Hansan Island, from April to December in 2005. The growth of the clam was estimated by von Bertalanffy growth model and each parameters were obtained from a nonlinear regression as $L_{\infty}\;=\;48.8\;mm$, k = 0.28 and $t_0\;=\;-0.88\;(R^2\;=\;0.994)$. Instantaneous coefficient of total mortality (Z) and fishing mortality (F) was calculated to be 0.8614/yr. and 0.6122/yr, respectively. The age at the first capture was estimated to be 2.88 year. Using the present parameter for clam fishing, the yield-per recruit (Y/R) was estimated to be 3.44g. Although the maximum Y/R was obtained under the parameters ($t_c\;=\;3.48\;yr$. and F = 0.9295/yr), it is favorable to maintain the current fishing effort considering the annual fluctuation of the parameters.