A Review: Handbook of Fish Biology and Fisheries Volume 2

ISBN: 0‐632‐06482‐X

The Handbook of Fish Biology and Fisheries: Volume 2 (2002) is the second volume in the series edited by Paul J.B. Hart and John D. Reynolds.

Paul J.B. Hart is Professor in the Department of Biology, University of Leicester, UK. He has co authored textbook Fisheries Ecology (1982) and he has co-edited The Impact of Species Changes in African Lakes (1995) and Reinventing Fisheries Management (1998). He is co-editor of the review journal, Fish and Fisheries (Blackwell Science) and he is a past President of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles

John D. Reynolds is Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of East Anglia, UK. He has co-authored a textbook, Marine Fisheries Ecology (2001), has co-edited Conservation of Exploited Species (2001) and is co-editor of the journal, Animal Conservation. He was awarded the FSBI Medal of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles in 2000.

In this second volume, we begin with a chapter that considers the human dimension of fisheries management.

Part One: Chapter two deals with fish capture devices in industrial and artisanal fisheries and their influence on the management. Chapter three looks at marketing and markets, determination of values and creating values along with communicating values, delivering and future values.

Chapters four and five charts the history of fisheries and their science and management along the nature of fishing and overfishing, plus post-second world war. It also covers the gathering of data and resource monitoring and fisheries management.

Part two provides fundamental methods of stock assessment, including surplus production models, virtual population analyses, methods for forecasting, length-based assessments, individual based models and economics.

Part three covers fisheries in a wider context looking at marine protected areas, fish and fisheries, exploitation and other threats to fishing conservation. It also looks at ecosystem effects of fishing and recreational fishing.

This second volume of the handbook is a well written and presented follow-up to the first. It is an excellent starting point for any undergraduate and graduate student who is interested in the history of fishing and the methods employed in fisheries. As well as the economics of fisheries its a good handbook to have as a reference. I feel this is a worth while investment and will be an invaluable reference tool for students, researchers and anyone working in the fields of fish biology and fisheries.

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.