The hydroacoustic surveys to provide the essential information for the assessment, management and utilization of fishery resources in the southern waters of Korea were carried out during five research cruises between October 1996 and October 1997 by the training ship KAYA of Pukyong National University. These hydroacoustic investigations were designed to obtain more precise estimates of the geographic distribution, absolute abundance and biological characteristics of the fishery resources, and the vertically integrated densities of fish in terms of volume backscattering strength(SV) by survey region and depth bins, such as the entire water column and the 0~ 10 m from bottom fraction, were measured separately. Hydroacoustic data were collected by using a Simrad EK 500 Scientific echo sounder operating at two frequencies of 38kHz and 120kHz and the data stored in field were later processed on a HP PC using a Simrad EP 500 echo integration and target strength analysis system. The biological compositions of echo signal were identified and sampled using a demersal trawl during daylight hours. The mean target strength to scale the echo integration data for hydroacoustic surveys was derived from the relationship between the SV and the weight of trawl catch per unit volume of the water column sampled by demersal trawls. The results obtained can be summarized as follow : 1. The mean volume backscattering strength for the entire water column in the southern waters of Korea between 1996 and 1997 were -67.2 dB and -70.9 dB at two frequencies of 38 kHz and 120 kHz , respectively, and for the bottom layer of the 0-10 m from bottom friction were -68.8 dB, -70.2 dB, respectively. That is, the volume backscattering strength for the entire water column at low frequency was higher than that at high frequency. 2. The relationship between the mean backscattering strength (〈SV〉, dB) for the depth strata of trawl hauls and the weight (C, kg/m3) per cubic meter of the catch sampled by bottom trawling in the southern waters of Korea in January and July 1997 were expressed by the following equations: 38 kHz : 〈SV〉= -28.2 + 10 log(C), 120 kHz : 〈SV〉= -32.4 + 10 log(C). The mean weight -normalized target strengths derived from these equitions were -28.2 dB/ kg, -32.4 dB/ kg at 38 kHz and 120 kHz , respectively. That is, the mean weight -normalized target strength at 38 kHz was 4.2 dB higher than that at 120 kHz. 3. The distribution density of fish in terms of biomass per unit volume in the southern waters of Korea were estimated to be 125.9 $ imes$ 10-6 kg/m3 and 141.3 $ imes$ 10-6 kg/m3 at 38 kHz and 120 kHz , respectively.