Fish Conservation: A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources

by Gene Helfman

Fish Conservation offers, for the first time in a single volume, a readable reference with a global approach to marine and freshwater fish diversity and fishery resource issues. Gene Helfman brings together available knowledge on the decline and restoration of freshwater and marine fishes, providing ecologically sound answers to biodiversity declines as well as to fishery management problems at the subsistence, recreational, and commercial levels. Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book:
considers the value of preserving aquatic biodiversity
offers an overview of imperiled fishes on a taxonomic and geographic basis
presents a synthesis of common characteristics of imperiled fishes and their habitats
details anthropogenic causes of decline
examines human exploitation issues
addresses ethical questions surrounding exploitation of fishes
The final chapter integrates topics and evaluates prospects for arresting declines, emphasizing the application of evolutionary and ecological principles in light of projected trends. Throughout, Helfman provides examples, explores case studies, and synthesizes available information from a broad taxonomic, habitat, and geographic range.

Fish Conservation summarizes the current state of knowledge about the degradation and restoration of diversity among fishes and the productivity of fishery resources, pointing out areas where progress has been made and where more needs to be done. Solutions focus on the application of ecological knowledge to solving practical problems, recognizing that effective biodiversity conservation depends on meeting human needs through management that focuses on long term sustainability and an ecosystem perspective.

688 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2007

About the author

Gene Helfman is an animal behaviorist turned conservation biologist. With a PhD in Ecology from Cornell University, Gene was on the faculty of the University of Georgia for thirty years, authoring four books on fish and marine conservation and dozens of related scientific papers. He spent much of his professional career underwater demonstrating that fish are smarter than conventionally thought. In an effort to get the message to a larger audience, he has turned to writing screenplays and novels, on the premise that more people read fiction than non-fiction. Gene and his wife Dr. Judy Meyer, an aquatic ecologist, live on Lopez Island in Washington State.