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| View Larger Image | Fish Conservation: A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources
by Gene S. Helfman
| | List Price: | $85.00 | | Price: | $76.50 | | You Save: | $8.50 (10%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 577259 | | Studio: | Island Press | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 688 | | Publication Date: | July 15, 2007 | | Publisher: | Island Press |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
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. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 2 reviews)
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professional reviews of Fish Conservation 
The Quarterly Review of Biology called Fish Conservation "a much needed and timely book . . . an excellent melding of scientific rigor and scope, with readability and usefulness to nonspecialists." Biological Conservation says the book "tackles large and complex issues with ease but . . . has the rare gift of being simultaneously hugely informative, scientifically robust, easy to read and filled with conservation suggestions and hope." A review that will appear in the Journal of Fish Biology calls the book "an extremely competent scientific text" and recommends it "unreservedly for anyone with an interest in fish conservation whether they are scientists, administrators or students." A review in The Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Sciences said, "This is an exciting book written in a clear easy reading style. . . . Helfman has taken us where few have dared to go, because of the immensity of the biodiversity probems, yet has given us a book that will be of use . . . for years to come."
August 04, 2008 | |
Student Review
A refreshingly easy-to-read text book. Gene Helfman's writing style challenges the reader to form their own opinion. The wealth of examples illustrate the major challenges facing fish conservation today.
This was the prescribed text for an undergraduate fish conservation course at Colorado State University (FW400). I present this review from a student's perspective, supported by survey results from my classmates.
I posed 4 questions and students rated the book on a 1 to 5 scale (1 = `not at all' to 5 = `very'). Average responses are presented.
1. Did you find the book easy to read and follow? 4.6
2. Did the book increase your understanding of fish conservation? 4.4
3. Do you consider the content up to date? 4.6
4. Was the book complementary to our course? 4.6
Overall rating 4.6
Helfman does an excellent job of tackling issues such as habitat loss, flow regulation, water quality and introduced species (Part III). The statistics are fascinating and compelling. "For freshwater fish, the principle cause of declines and extinction is habitat degradation". "[R]ates of imperilment of North American fishes, crayfish and mussels are three to eight times those for birds and mammals". These numbers are not thrown about without due consideration. Helfman provides a thought provoking review of how we classify imperilment at regional to global scales (Part II). Fisheries management, particularly harvest of marine fishes, is also dealt with in detail (Part IV).
The book is written from a North American perspective, but includes a wealth of case studies from across the globe. Chapter 3 reviews conservation policy of Australia, Canada, European Union, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, Russian Federation, South America, South America, British Isles.
The book focuses on conservation of fish species - it is not a general guide to resource management. Some chapters focus heavily on freshwater fish and others on marine. Mostly, these reflect the relative importance of each issue in different environments. I managed to find one or two holes or oversights in areas where I have in-depth knowledge, but these were far outweighed by chapters that vastly expanded my understanding of a topic.
Our class did not rely on the book as the sole source of course material. Having said that, the range of issues dealt with by Helfman is probably beyond what could be covered in any one course. After course work is finished, the book provides excellent review material for unfamiliar topics. I'll be holding on to my copy.
July 09, 2008 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
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