American Fisheries Society

Advances in fisheries bioengineering.

The Society's fifth symposium on bioengineering — not to be confused with biotechnology — generated 15 papers on such topics as a free-surface model of a vertical slot fishway to numerically predict velocity and turbulence distributions, relating dam-passage time of adult salmon to varying river conditions, and the laboratory evaluation of an aquatic filter barrier for protecting early life stages of fish at water intakes. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Grenadiers of the world oceans; biology, stock assessment, and fisheries.

Grenadiers are a diverse group of deep-sea gadiform fishes that are found worldwide in all oceans. This collection of papers on grenadiers adds to the literature on the biology of ichthyofauna and sheds light on the impact that the grenadier catch is likely to have on the world's ecosystems. The book begins with an introduction to the taxonomic history of grenadiers. Later chapters, mostly case studies of specific regions, are divided into sections on species composition and distribution, biology and ecology, and fisheries and stock assessment. Some specific topics covered include abundance patterns of grenadiers on the mid-Atlantic range between Iceland and the Azores, feeding ecology of three congeneric grenadiers in waters of northeastern Taiwan, and the giant grenadier in Alaska. B&w photos and maps are included, along with a few color photos. Orlov is a principal scientist at the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography in Moscow. Iwamoto is curator of the Department of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, with grenadiers as his single focus. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International governance of fisheries ecosystems; learning from the past, finding solutions for the future.

Globalization-fueled increasing exploitation of resources by, and interactions among, diverse users groups present challenges to the sustainability, management, and governance of aquatic ecosystems. Schechter and colleagues at Michigan State University's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Fisheries and Wildlife, introduce 17 case studies of historic and contemporary freshwater, marine, and anadromous species management practices from the U.S. Great Lakes to Malawi presented at an American Fisheries Society symposium of the same title held in 2006. Concluding that current fisheries governance conventions have failed to respond adequately to increasing product demand and concerns, e.g., transgenic fish, contributors' recommendations call for the under- valued resource of shared fisheries to develop coordinated efforts and alternatives that are "engaging, inclusive, and transparent" to all stakeholders. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Mitigating impacts of natural hazards on fishery ecosystems.

Hurricanes and other storms, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, volcanoes, tsunamis, and any combination of them that US researchers describe as potential hazards for environments where fish are commercially harvested. The 34 papers are from the fifth biennial symposium sponsored by the Society and Sea Grant, held in San Francisco in September 2007. They are not indexed. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Salmonid spawning habitat in rivers; physical controls, biological responses, and approaches to remediation; proceedings.

Sear (geography, U. of Southampton, UK) and DeVries assemble 16 papers in this volume, which reflect presentations given at the American Fisheries Society symposium, "Physical Factors Affecting Salmon Spawning and Egg Survival to Emergence: Integrating Science and Remediation Management," held in Quebec City, Canada, in August 2003. The volume provides an overview of the spawning habitat of salmonids within river systems. Researchers mostly from North America and Great Britain consider the processes that control spawning habitat availability, aspects that impact the quality of the habitat, and biological factors that affect habitat utilization and the interaction between physical habitat quality and salmonid reproductive success, as well as how this knowledge informs remediation schemes across different spatial scales. There is no index. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)