Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology,

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

, freshwater biology,

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

, conservation,

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, population dynamics,

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

decision analysis Decision analysis (DA) is the Academic discipline, discipline comprising the philosophy, methodology, and professional practice necessary to address important Decision making, decisions in a formal manner. Decision analysis includes many procedures ...

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

, and many others in an attempt to provide an integrated picture of fisheries. In some cases new disciplines have emerged, as in the case of bioeconomics and fisheries law. Because fisheries science is such an all-encompassing field, fisheries scientists often use methods from a broad array of academic disciplines. Over the most recent several decades, there have been declines in fish stocks (populations) in many regions along with increasing concern about the impact of intensive fishing on marine and freshwater biodiversity. Fisheries science is typically taught in a

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

setting, and can be the focus of an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

, master's or Ph.D. program. Some universities offer fully integrated programs in fisheries science. Graduates of university fisheries programs typically find employment as scientists, fisheries managers of both recreational and commercial fisheries, researchers, aquaculturists, educators, environmental consultants and planners, conservation officers, and many others. __TOC__

Fisheries research

Because fisheries take place in a diverse set of aquatic environments (i.e., high seas, coastal areas, large and small rivers, and lakes of all sizes), research requires different sampling equipment, tools, and techniques. For example, studying trout populations inhabiting mountain lakes requires a very different set of sampling tools than, say, studying salmon in the high seas. Ocean fisheries research vessels (FRVs) often require platforms which are capable of towing different types of fishing nets, collecting

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

or water samples from a range of depths, and carrying acoustic fish-finding equipment. Fisheries research vessels are often designed and built along the same lines as a large fishing vessel, but with space given over to

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which science, scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as s ...

and equipment storage, as opposed to storage of the catch. In addition to a diverse set of sampling gear, fisheries scientists often use scientific techniques from many different professional disciplines. Other important areas of fisheries research are population dynamics, economics, social studies and genetics.

Notable contributors

Members of this list meet one or more of the following criteria: 1) Author of widely cited peer-reviewed articles on fisheries, 2) Author of major reference work in fisheries, 3) Founder of major fisheries journal, museum or other related organisation 4) Person most notable for other reasons who has also worked in fisheries science. File:Professor_R._J._H._Beverton_FRS,_1982-90_(cropped)_(cropped).jpg, File:Rosa_Mabel_Lee_while_working_in_Lowestoft.jpg, File:Ray Hilborn.JPG, File:Ram Myers.jpg, File:Daniel Pauly Pauly Symposium.jpg, File:Oscar Elton Sette.JPG, File:Bell Shimada.jpg,

Journals

Some journals about fisheries are
''Journal of Fisheries''

''Fisheries Oceanography''

''Journal of the Fisheries Research Board''
* '' Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences''
''Transactions of the American Fisheries Society''

''Fisheries Management and Ecology''

''Fish and Fisheries''

''Journal of Fish Biology''

''Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science''

''The Open Fish Science Journal''

''African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries''

''ICES Journal of Marine Science''

''Reviews in Fisheries Science''
*

*

Professional societies

World Council of Fisheries Societies

American Fisheries Society

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)

The Fisheries Society of the British Isles

The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science

The Australian Society for Fish Biology

Notes

References

* Hart, Paul J B and Reynolds, John D (2002) Handbook of Fish Biology and Fisheries, Chapter 1
''The human dimensions of fisheries science.''
Blackwell Publishing. * Megrey BA and Moksness E (eds) (2009
''Computers in Fisheries Research''
second edition, Springer. . * Pauly, D and Palomares, M L D (eds) (2002
''Production Systems in Fishery Management''
UBC Fisheries Centre Research Reports 10(8). * Payne A, Cotter AJR, Cotter J and Potter T (2008
''Advances in fisheries science: 50 years on from Beverton and Holt''
John Wiley and Sons. .

External links

The Sea Ahead... learning from the past
A web site of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies promoting ecosystem-based fisheries science.
What is fisheries science?
(PDF) {{Authority control