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© 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd

Blackwell Science, Ltd210.1046/j.1467-2960.2001.00045.x

Book Reviews

Editor

Dr Chuck

Hollingworth

Submission address:

School of Biological Sciences (Orton Building), University of Wales Bangor, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK E-mail: [email protected]

Quantitative Fish Dynamics

By Terrance J. Quinn II and Richard B. Deriso

Biological Resource Management Series. Oxford Uni-versity Press, Oxford, 1999. ISBN 0-19-507631-1,£70.00. Hard cover, acid-free paper, xviii + 542 pp.,98 tables, 108 figures. Detailed index; extensive listof references; the print in some figures is very small(e.g. Fig. 8.6).

Quantitative Fish Dynamics

is an excellent book,though be warned, it is not for the faint-hearted.Both Quinn and Deriso are acknowledged leaders intheir field, so it is no surprise to find this an authori-tative and, in many respects, complete treatment ofthe subject. It bears resemblance to the seminal workof Beverton and Holt but with examples drawn morefrom the North-west Pacific rather than the NorthSea. It is therefore very much in the classic school ofpopulation dynamics with an emphasis on singlespecies. To some this may be a disappointment in thelight of the broader ecological concerns that increas-ingly influence fishery management. However, thestrength of the book is its uncompromisingly rigor-ous approach to modelling and estimation that is alltoo often forgotten.

The book covers all the main elements you wouldexpect in a text designed to equip practitioners withthe tools to analyse and assess exploited fish stocks ina management context. Subjects include growth,fecundity, natural mortality, fishing mortality andstock and recruitment. With these foundations, thebook proceeds with increasing complexity from sur-plus production models, through delay-differenceand age-structured models, to size-structuredmodels. Two chapters are then devoted to the applica-tion of models in assessment methods. The bookconcludes with chapters on migration and spatialconsiderations, and optimal harvesting. In each

chapter an introduction to the theory of each topic isfollowed by examples using real data. As the titleindicates, the book is unashamedly quantitative andthe theory is developed in some detail. For thoseinterested in figures, Chapter 4, for example, whichdeals with growth and fecundity, contains 142 equa-tions in 80 pages.

The preface and jacket notes suggest that the bookis aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduatestudents. This is very much a minimum level andmany aspiring students, particularly those with amore biological orientation, will find its contentsdemanding unless they have a good grounding inintermediate mathematics with a moderate dose ofstatistics. This is always a problem area for authorsaddressing the uneasy union of biology and mathe-matics. In this book the extensive use of mathematicsin the text to develop ideas will discourage those of amore descriptive predisposition. On the other hand,those with a desire to apply modern quantitativemethods in a difficult field will be richly rewarded.While not every method is described, the referencelist is exhaustive, providing the reader with amplescope for further investigation.

No book is perfect. I missed a more thorough treat-ment of multispecies modelling. While the subject isnot absent from the book, it is handled as somethingof a worthy appendage to single-species approachesrather than a developing field in its own right.The pressure on fishery science to deal with speciesinteractions is irresistible and a greater exposition ofthe art would have been welcome. I also found thetendency of the authors to lay out an inventory ofmethods with little commentary on them slightlydisappointing. A reluctance to foist their proclivitieson the reader is admirable but the choice of a par-ticular model depends on more than just the dataand the underlying biology. For those less well versedin statistics and modelling, a stronger steer would be

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helpful. Sophisticates can always disagree and maketheir own choice.

Despite these minor misgivings, I would entirelyagree with the blurb which claims that the book “isan indispensable reference work for fishery scientists”.

Robin Cook

FRS Marine Laboratory,Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

23200145Book ReviewsBook Reviews10.1046/j.1467-2960.2001.00045.xBook Reviews000000Graphicraft Limited, Hong KongPeter Ward, Fisheries and Forest Sciences Division, Bureau of Rural Sciences, PO Box E11, Kingston ACT 2604, Australia

Percid Fishes: Systematics, Ecology and Exploitation

By J.F. Craig

Fishing News Books, Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford,2000. ISBN 0-632-05616-9, £79.50. Hard cover,368 pp., 152 illustrations.

Most freshwater fish ecologists will be aware of JohnCraig’s 1987 book on the biology of perch (

Perca

spp.) and related fish, which quickly established itselfas the standard text on this widely distributed andimportant group. The present text is essentially anupdate of Craig (1987) and, so, in addition to con-sidering the new book on its own merits, this reviewwill also attempt to answer the question that manyreaders will be asking themselves, i.e. is this updatereally worth buying if I already have the earlier text?This question is particularly appropriate given that,in his preface, the author concedes that the founda-tions in all aspects of percid taxonomy, morphology,physiology, ecology and fisheries management werewell established by the mid 1980s.

The book comprises 13 chapters, as did Craig(1987), with which it shares common chapters on:taxonomy and distribution; morphology and ana-tomy; reproduction and development; parasites anddiseases; population dynamics and communitystructure; and fisheries and economic importance.Chapters on age, growth and mortality; food andfeeding; ionic and water balance; Etheostomatinae;and other Percinae and Luciopercinae were alsopresent in the earlier book under only slightly differ-ent titles, although the chapter on the Etheostomati-nae is now written by Lawrence M. Page. Much of thematerial in a new chapter on Swimming, Movementsand Migrations was in fact previously presented atthe end of a chapter on physiology, but the new bookdoes offer a completely new chapter on Aquaculturewritten by Patrick Kestemont and Charles Mélard.Given the book’s obvious strengths as a reference

text, it is good to see its content supported by author,fish species, geographical and subject indexes. Thebook also contains six colour plates and an impressivereference list with about 1250 entries. The standardof technical production is excellent throughout.

So, how good are the net results of the combinedefforts of Craig, Page, Kestemont and Mélard, and dothey offer significant advantages over Craig (1987)?The answers are a resounding excellent and yes,respectively. Even though the foundations of percidbiology were in place by the mid 1980s, the presenttext has been extensively revised. This overhaul isreflected by the fact that about 450, or an impressive36%, of the entries in the reference list have beenpublished since Craig (1987). In addition to this gen-eral updating, the new chapter by Page describes themorphology, ecology, habitat, reproduction, growth,spacing, diet and predation of the 173 percid speciesthat constitute the darters of North America, whilethat by Kestemont and Mélard provides an author-itative account of the biology, rearing, genetics andpathologies of percid aquaculture.

I am sure that this book, like its predecessor, willquickly become the standard text on percids and willbe frequently referred to by ecologists and fisheriesmanagers involved with this group of fishes. Teachersof fish biology, ecology and fisheries managementwill also find it an invaluable source of classic andcontemporary material.

Reference

Craig, J.F. (1987)

The Biology of Perch and Related Fish

.Croom Helm, London. 333 pp.

lan J. Winfield

CEH, Windermere, UK


Geostatistics for Estimating Fish Abundance

By J. Rivoirard, J. Simmonds, K.G. Foote, P. Fernandesand N. Bez

Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford, 2000, ISBN 0-632-05444-1, £69.50. Hard cover, viii + 206 pp., 28 tables,103 figures.

It is an enduring and oft-quoted paradox that,while the terrestrial part of our planet has beenmapped, scanned, measured, explored, surveyed,and inventoried in ever-increasing detail, we stillknow embarrassingly little about the Earth’s marineenvironment and the resources to be found therein.


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Fish are among the most important of theseresources, but determining the extent and distribu-tion of fish populations is far from being a trivialproposition; not only is the spatial extent of fishshoals (as well as that of drifting plankton, fish eggs,fry, etc.) extremely hard to determine, there is theadditional complication of population dynamics.Most fish spend their lives moving through a three-dimensional environment characterised by very dif-ferent measurement scales and resolutions in thevertical and the horizontal, and in which changesoperate over time scales ranging from seconds andminutes up to years, decades and beyond. As if thiswas not complication enough, the physics of theaquatic environment militates against both directobservation and the easy application of optical, radarand most other forms of remote sensing.

The science of geostatistics first emerged in the1960s, in response to demands from mining engi-neers and geologists for ways of assessing the keyspatial properties of petroleum deposits, ore bodiesand similarly diffuse resources, on the basis of asmall number of strategically taken sample read-ings. The idea of applying similar techniques to fish-eries data arose at the 73rd Statutory Meeting of theInternational Council for the Exploration of the Sea(ICES) in 1985, and was further developed at sub-sequent meetings and courses held in 1989, 1991 and1992. The interest provoked was such that, in 1993,the European Union approved funding for a projectunder the EU FAIR programme, on ‘Geostatisticsfor Fish Stock Assessment’.

Geostatistics for Estim-ating Fish Abundance

is the published report of thisresearch. As such, it provides: a concise summary ofthe current state of the art in the field; an authorita-tive manual and ‘how to do it’ guide to the applica-tion of geostatistical techniques within the fisheriesindustry; and a detailed record of case studies andtest applications, where the utility of geostatisticalapproaches to measuring fish populations and distri-butions is successfully demonstrated.

That this book addresses an important need isbeyond question, and it fulfils its purpose clearly andefficiently. Given its price and its specialist role, it ismore likely to find its place on shelves in institutionallibraries rather than with individual researchers. Itshould also be noted that this is not a book for thenumerically challenged or the mathematically faint-hearted. The authors do start with brief introduc-tions to the first principles of data collection andpreparation, sampling frames and basic descriptivestatistics. However, formulae and equations abound,

and the discussion very rapidly progresses to tran-sitive and intrinsic statistical methods, variograms,multivariate analyses, kriging and other moreadvanced techniques. Nonetheless, for those readerscomfortable with statistical and algebraic notation,the book presents the techniques, and their con-ceptual derivations, clearly and in sufficient detail toencourage their wider adoption.

My one small disappointment in the book was thelack of discussion of possible linkages betweengeostatistical techniques and the spatial data man-agement capabilities of geographical informationsystems (GIS). Even most GIS enthusiasts acknow-ledge that statistical analysis largely remains theAchilles heel of current geo-information systems,but this situation is gradually changing. By interfac-ing GIS (which is useful for capturing, retrieving,storing and visualising spatial data) with techniquesfor data analysis as described in this book, useful syn-ergy and operational efficiency stands to be gainedon both sides. Hopefully, someone, somewhere, isworking on such problems. In the meantime,

Geosta-tistics for Estimating Fish Abundance

should be seenas a significant contribution towards better under-standing, and hopefully more sustainable manage-ment, of our global fish resources.

Darius Bartlett

Department of Geography,University College Cork, Cork, Ireland


Trout and Salmon: Ecology, Conservation and Rehabilitation

By D. Trevor Crisp

Fishing News Books, Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford,2000. ISBN 0-85238-256-1, £35.00 Soft cover,xii + 212 pp., 37 tables, 60 figures. Glossary oftechnical terms; author and subject indexes; about500 references.

After two brief and rather sketchy chapters on thebasic biology of salmon and trout, Trevor Crisp’sbook concentrates on environmental requirementsof the fish and on conservation and restoration oftheir habitat. The habitat chapters provide a usefulcollection of current thoughts on the managementof salmonid stream habitat, and this is where thebook’s strength lies. However, its scope is ratherparochial, focusing almost entirely on the fish andtheir habitat in the UK, and even more locally on


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river and stream systems within England and Wales.Despite the claim in the Introduction that there arefrequent references to salmonids elsewhere in theworld, such references are minimal. In a world-widecontext, the river systems of England and Wales arereally rather small, so the usefulness of the book willbe restricted geographically.

The chapter on environmental requirements ofsalmon and trout should be the one to interest fishbiologists, but it has a rather mechanistic approachand there is not very much that is new. The fishare treated as physiological machines, and theirphysiological capacity is emphasized rather thanwhat they really do. The fish do not emerge asdynamic, physiologically responsive entities. There isno reference to endocrine regulators responding toexternal environmental signals, and no sense of thefish as seasonally conditioned evolutionary products.

As to conservation, although there is passingmention of the complex structure of salmon andtrout stocks, there is no clear sense that genetic con-servation is every bit as important as habitat con-servation, and that management is incomplete if thetwo are not considered together. Restocking withhatchery-produced fish is considered in the book asa management tool, but there is no discussion ofthe genetic implications of such practices.

The chapter on rehabilitation reviews ideas onassessment of habitat suitability by several groupswithin Britain, but seems to be focused a littlenarrowly. Ideas on drainage basin management as acontext for specific problems within streams havebeen developed elsewhere in the world, and could havebeen included here. Specific techniques such as pro-vision of buffer strips along streams are presented as ifuntested, even though much evaluation work hasbeen done within Europe and North America.

With such a wealth of books available on salmo-nids, a new one has to contain something very differ-ent to be worthy of notice by fish biologists. TrevorCrisp’s

Trout and Salmon. Ecology, Conservation andRehabilitation

is most interesting in the sectionsregarding work with which Trevor has been associ-ated most directly, namely stream-bed structure andits relevance to the needs of the embryonic and earlylife stages of the fish. The book is useful as a source ofsuch specific information, but will not supplant exist-ing texts as a source of general ecological data onsalmonids. It should appeal to sedimentologists andengineers concerned with stream restoration, and tobiologists concerned with environmental impactassessments.

John Thorpe

University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK


Farmed Fish Quality

Edited by S.C. Kestin and P.D. Warriss

Blackwell Science Ltd, Fishing News Books, Oxford,2001. ISBN 0-85238-260-X, £79.50. Hard cover,xiv + 430 pp., 44 tables, 105 figures.

Farmed Fish Quality

is the result of a conference heldin April 1999 and contains an introduction, 32papers and 24 one- or two-page abstracts. The intro-duction makes clear that many internationallyrecognised experts, both from research organisa-tions and from the commercial sector, were askedto provide definitive reviews of their specific areas,to produce a standard text covering a wide range oftopics. This approach almost guaranteed success.

Farmed Fish Quality

is clearly a book that anyonewith an interest in aquaculture and its products,whether from a research, teaching or commercialbackground, would find interesting and extremelyuseful. It will be an invaluable reference for myteaching and research.

Chapters by international experts provide detailedbut highly readable reviews of current researchand central issues regarding the nutritional value offish ( J. Sargent and colleagues), muscle growth (I.Johnston), pigmentation (D. Nickell and J. Springate),composition (K. Shearer), texture (O. Torrissen andcolleagues) and stress (T. Pottinger). These contribu-tions contain clear summary tables and figures andwork best where they include background diagramsthat show the main processes. A key aspect of thisbook is that many chapters comment directly onindustry experience; this is clearly of great import-ance but is often difficult to find in the literature.Many are of a high ‘academic’ standard, with par-ticularly good chapters on microbial problems insalmon processing (L. Laidler) and downgrading(I. Michie). The book also contains extremely usefulchapters on the wide range of methods applicableto this field, including chemical composition andcolour, harvesting, rigor, processing and packaging,sensory analysis and preference testing.

Most chapters are based on Atlantic salmon andrainbow trout, which is not surprising given theimportance of these species and that most of theauthors work in Europe. There is comparatively littleinformation about other species, although a few


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chapters either focus on other species or containmore complete reviews across different species. Afew of the chapters appeared too limited by concen-trating on a particular experiment or species andmight have been better as abstracts. In such a largebook it was pleasing to find little repetition althoughthe chapters might have been organised moreclearly. The use of larger sections on aspects such asnutrition, husbandry and harvesting, and analyticalmethods would have been appropriate as somechapters seem misplaced. Appendices giving detailedchemical composition (proximate analysis, majorproteins, amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins) offarmed fish and typical feed formulations (summa-rising vitamin and pigment levels) would also havebeen worthwhile.

The book is published to a high standard with anattractive layout and clear, although slightly small,typescript. The figures and tables are all clear. Theindex is detailed and useful although page numberson the abstracts would have been helpful.

Farmed Fish Quality

is a welcome addition to theliterature. It encompasses a very broad range ofinformation and will become a key reference in thisfield.

Chris Carter

Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute,University of Tasmania, Australia


Fisheries Oceanography: An Integrative Approach to Fisheries Ecology and Management

Edited by Paul J. Harrison and Timothy R. Parsons

Fish and Aquatic Resources Series 4. BlackwellScience Ltd, Oxford, 2000. ISBN 0-632-05566-9,£29.99. Soft cover, xii + 347 pp., 12 tables, 4 boxes,76 figures (2 in colour). Extensive list of references.

Harrison and Parsons, editors of this volume, definefisheries oceanography to be “the study of oceanicprocesses affecting marine ecosystems and the rela-tionship of these ecosystems to the abundance andavailability of fish”. After a brief introduction on his-torical lines by the editors themselves, there followsome seven chapters dealing with various aspects ofthis complex field. An unusual and welcome dimen-sion is the addition of commentaries, following eachchapter, written by reviewers of the chapters. Thewhole results from a symposium held at the Univer-

sity of British Columbia to announce a new Chair ofOcean Environment and Living Resources.

The chapters are based on the lectures by invitedspeakers, who appear to have been carefully briefedby the organisers. As a consequence, there is ahigher degree of coherence than is often the casewith books assembled from papers by differentauthors on different subjects. For example, the issueof scale is a recurring topic throughout, beingtreated in its physical, climatological, ecological andgenetic contexts.

In a fascinating chapter on migration of Pacificsalmon, Healey constructs ‘intelligent’ algorithmsfor the behaviour of the migrating fish (intelligent inthe sense that they are based on oceanographic, eco-logical and physiological principles). Here again thequestion of scale is critical. A major contribution byGrant and Waples deals with genetic plasticity inmarine and anadromous fish, especially its spatialand temporal scales of variation. The discussion,which is set against an oceanographic background,assesses how scales of oceanographic forcing mightshape population structure. Beamish

et al

. summar-ise a variety of forcing mechanisms at the decadaltime scale and analyse the impact of such forcing onthe populations of exploited species, demersal aswell as pelagic, of British Columbia. They concludethat the impact of climate change on fisheries isprofound, to the extent that they propose a new dis-cipline of fisheries climatology. Mann provides aperceptive commentary. Laurs and Polovina give asurvey of the applications of satellite remote sens-ing in fisheries oceanography: a fundamental toolto characterise spatial and temporal variability inimportant ecosystem properties. Ware discusses theconstruction of ecosystem models useful for fisher-ies studies, and makes suggestions for future work.Pauly and Denman provide separate commentaries,the former dealing with multispecies issues, the latterwith problems of forecasting and the matter of scale.

The early life history of pelagic fish is dealt with byP. E. Smith, who bases the discussion on commer-cially important species of the California Current.After the clearly stated conclusions there are impor-tant suggestions for future work. Here also, we seethe value of the commentary that follows the chap-ter. Whereas Smith makes the case that recruitmentin the California Current is under environmentalcontrol, the reviewers (Brodeur and Bailey), basingtheir views on the groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska,point to biological processes such as predation,mediated through the environment, as important


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controls on recruitment. In a broad sweep, Sharpsurveys the past, present and future of fisheriesoceanography. Dower, Leggett and Frank providean extensive commentary in which they argue forthe incorporation of environmental data into stockassessment.

This book is recommended as a good introductionto a wide range of subject matter under the generalheading of fisheries oceanography. The bibliographyis extensive; it should be a treasure trove for those

entering the field. The book should capture the inter-est of both students and professionals seeking tostrengthen the foundation, as stated in the subtitle,for an integrative approach to fisheries ecology andmanagement.

Trevor Platt

Department of Fisheries and Oceans,Bedford Institute of Oceanography,Dartmouth, NS, Canada


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Farmed Fish Quality