- Email: [email protected]
Fishes of the sea of Japan and the adjacent areas of the sea of Okhotsk and the yellow sea
360
future work. It emphasises that in spite of all the observations available, the seasonal coverage is still inadequate, some of the methods are now outdated, and further work using the latest technology is required. Overall, the original stimulus of the work, to demonstrate the distribution of land-based contaminants, shows through and accounts for the sometimes cursory nature of the chapters on living resources. However, the book brings together a great diversity of observations drawn not only from peer-reviewed literature but also from reports and dissertations which would otherwise have been difficult to access. Each chapter has its own extensive reference list and the book overall is well set out and illustrated with figures and colour plates. It can be recommended to those concerned with the oceanography of the region or indeed to anyone interested in the inshore side of an eastern boundary current system.
ALASDAIR D. MclNTYRE
Dept. of Zoology University of Aberdeen Tillydrone Avenue AB9 2TN Great Britain
FISHES OF THE SEA OF JAPAN AND ADJOINING WATERS
Fishes of the Sea of Japan and the Adjacent Areas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the YellowSea, Part 4, Teleostomi XXIX. Perciformes/2. Blennioidei-13. Gobioidei/(CXLV. Faro. Anarhichadidae-CLXXV. Faro. Periophthalmidae ), by G.U. Lindberg and Z.V. Krasyukova (Bruce B. CoUette, Scientific Editor). A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 1989, 628 pp., price Dfl. 95.00/US$ 48.50/£ 26.00, ISBN 90-6191-415-9. This book, dealing with 230 species in 12 perciform suborders, is the last of a four-part series on the fishes of the Sea of Japan and adjoining waters by the late Professor George U. Lindberg (1894-1976), a treatise which began to appear in 1959. The area involved has a rich fish fauna with an interesting blend of Indo-Pacific forms and colder water endemics. Important commercial fisheries take place in this region, and there is r/o doubt that a monographic publication of this nature could be of value to many workers on fish, at least for identification if not for more general discussion of zoogeography. Its translation is of acceptable quality, although peculiarities of style and spelling may be found, as "Let it be noted hear .." on p. 332 shows, and, for bibliographic enthusiasts, the original pagination is indicated in the left-hand margin.
361 However, the question arises as to whether the present volume is nowadays a work of any practical use or merely a historical curiosity. The initial Russian version of this volume appeared in 1975, so that 14 years elapsed before this English edition in 1989. Much has happened in systematic ichthyology during this period, notably for this area the publication of The Fishes of the Japanese Archipelago (K. Masuda, C. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino, Editors, Tokai University Press, Tokyo, 1984). Although considerably more expensive, the latter is topical and lavishly illustrated in colour. Nevertheless, to his credit, the late Professor Lindberg's classical format provides, for its day, diagnoses of higher taxa, keys to families, genera and species, and, for each species, an illustration and full coverage from synonymies and descriptions to habitat and distribution. Admittedly, but justifiably, much of this material is compiled from other sources. Unfortunately, in press by 1973, this impressive work was out of date even in 1975, with negligible coverage of literature beyond 1969 and only one 1974 reference. For a book appearing in 1989, there are thus many glaring omissions. In my own speciality of gobioid fishes, there is no treatment of the modified lateralis system beyond figures mostly from Berg (1949) (although one is from Arai, 1970), details of which are so necessary in gobioid systematics. Similarly, for a neighbouring benthic group, the dragonets, all Fricke's recent work is inevitably absent. A justification for publishing older Russian books in translation is that the exercise might reveal a potentially vast literature untapped by the West. One wonders if this expectation is ever justified. It seems likely that the most significant papers in Russian ichthyology are detected reasonably promptly by the major abstracting services, and, if missed when new, have probably become obsolete by the time they might be revealed in a translation of this sort. However, as a random test of eastern bloc coverage, it may be noted that a paper by Chu and Wu (Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica, 7:122-140 ), from as long ago as 1965, on the zoogeography of Chinese gobies is not quoted, although this includes the Far Eastern seas of the U.S.S.R. Publishers would make a more useful contribution to ichthyology and other sciences if it became the practice for much more extensive editing and updating of these translated texts. Even a series of footnotes would be valuable, and the design of the present book seems to have left considerable surplus space which might have been available for this purpose. Smaller fonts could have been used and most of the illustrations easily reduced to half size. Perhaps it becomes a question of profitability. The actual outcome in the present case is a book of academic interest, but with its practical value diminished by the extensive passage of time in transit from east to west. A final comment is that the copy submitted for review was heavily waterstained at the upper edge of the spine, and, despite a dust-jacket, had some-
362
what scuffed cloth binding. If this condition reflects the average level of quality control by the printers or publishers, then purchasers should be wary. P.J. MILLER
Zoology Department The University Bristol BS8 1UG Great Britain
WOMEN IN COMMERCIAL FISHING
Winds of Change: Women in Northwest Commercial Fishing, C.J. Allison and M.A. Porter, University of Washington Press, Seattle, U.S.A., 1989, 232 pp., US$25.00, ISBN 0-295-96840-0, LC: 89-16422 (1990).
Winds of Change captures the true concept of a fishery, addressing not only the fish populations and environment, but providing a broad view of the entire social system of harvesters, consumers, and all support people in between. This book focuses on the lives o f 10 women involved in the commercial fisheries of the Pacific Northwest, ranging from California north to Puget Sound, Washington, and Kodiak, Alaska. Told largely in their own words, the stories of these women portray lifestyles full of spirit, tenacity, and some uncertainty. Not only are the lives of the women described, but readers also glimpse the parts played in the fisheries by other family members and friends, both male and female. Commercial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest rely on a vast network of individuals, families, associations, corporations, and management agencies. Women play a variety of roles in this network, ranging from homemakers whose skills in home financial management and childrearing allow husbandfishermen to be gone for long periods of time, to administrators charged with the responsibility of setting and enforcing fishery management regulations. The selection of 10 oral histories presented in this volume succeeds in portraying the diverse yet critical contributions women make to the success of the Northwest commercial fishing industry. Featured are women who have been homemakers in fishing families, fish harvesters, processors, distributors, charter boat operators, managers, administrators, and political activists. A refreshing aspect of this book was the authors' initial assumption that women ought to be present in all aspects of the fishery, not that women are an anomaly to be explained. Though certain types of fishery work are noncustomary for women to be engaged in, this approach
future work. It emphasises that in spite of all the observations available, the seasonal coverage is still inadequate, some of the methods are now outdated, and further work using the latest technology is required. Overall, the original stimulus of the work, to demonstrate the distribution of land-based contaminants, shows through and accounts for the sometimes cursory nature of the chapters on living resources. However, the book brings together a great diversity of observations drawn not only from peer-reviewed literature but also from reports and dissertations which would otherwise have been difficult to access. Each chapter has its own extensive reference list and the book overall is well set out and illustrated with figures and colour plates. It can be recommended to those concerned with the oceanography of the region or indeed to anyone interested in the inshore side of an eastern boundary current system.
ALASDAIR D. MclNTYRE
Dept. of Zoology University of Aberdeen Tillydrone Avenue AB9 2TN Great Britain
FISHES OF THE SEA OF JAPAN AND ADJOINING WATERS
Fishes of the Sea of Japan and the Adjacent Areas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the YellowSea, Part 4, Teleostomi XXIX. Perciformes/2. Blennioidei-13. Gobioidei/(CXLV. Faro. Anarhichadidae-CLXXV. Faro. Periophthalmidae ), by G.U. Lindberg and Z.V. Krasyukova (Bruce B. CoUette, Scientific Editor). A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 1989, 628 pp., price Dfl. 95.00/US$ 48.50/£ 26.00, ISBN 90-6191-415-9. This book, dealing with 230 species in 12 perciform suborders, is the last of a four-part series on the fishes of the Sea of Japan and adjoining waters by the late Professor George U. Lindberg (1894-1976), a treatise which began to appear in 1959. The area involved has a rich fish fauna with an interesting blend of Indo-Pacific forms and colder water endemics. Important commercial fisheries take place in this region, and there is r/o doubt that a monographic publication of this nature could be of value to many workers on fish, at least for identification if not for more general discussion of zoogeography. Its translation is of acceptable quality, although peculiarities of style and spelling may be found, as "Let it be noted hear .." on p. 332 shows, and, for bibliographic enthusiasts, the original pagination is indicated in the left-hand margin.
361 However, the question arises as to whether the present volume is nowadays a work of any practical use or merely a historical curiosity. The initial Russian version of this volume appeared in 1975, so that 14 years elapsed before this English edition in 1989. Much has happened in systematic ichthyology during this period, notably for this area the publication of The Fishes of the Japanese Archipelago (K. Masuda, C. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino, Editors, Tokai University Press, Tokyo, 1984). Although considerably more expensive, the latter is topical and lavishly illustrated in colour. Nevertheless, to his credit, the late Professor Lindberg's classical format provides, for its day, diagnoses of higher taxa, keys to families, genera and species, and, for each species, an illustration and full coverage from synonymies and descriptions to habitat and distribution. Admittedly, but justifiably, much of this material is compiled from other sources. Unfortunately, in press by 1973, this impressive work was out of date even in 1975, with negligible coverage of literature beyond 1969 and only one 1974 reference. For a book appearing in 1989, there are thus many glaring omissions. In my own speciality of gobioid fishes, there is no treatment of the modified lateralis system beyond figures mostly from Berg (1949) (although one is from Arai, 1970), details of which are so necessary in gobioid systematics. Similarly, for a neighbouring benthic group, the dragonets, all Fricke's recent work is inevitably absent. A justification for publishing older Russian books in translation is that the exercise might reveal a potentially vast literature untapped by the West. One wonders if this expectation is ever justified. It seems likely that the most significant papers in Russian ichthyology are detected reasonably promptly by the major abstracting services, and, if missed when new, have probably become obsolete by the time they might be revealed in a translation of this sort. However, as a random test of eastern bloc coverage, it may be noted that a paper by Chu and Wu (Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica, 7:122-140 ), from as long ago as 1965, on the zoogeography of Chinese gobies is not quoted, although this includes the Far Eastern seas of the U.S.S.R. Publishers would make a more useful contribution to ichthyology and other sciences if it became the practice for much more extensive editing and updating of these translated texts. Even a series of footnotes would be valuable, and the design of the present book seems to have left considerable surplus space which might have been available for this purpose. Smaller fonts could have been used and most of the illustrations easily reduced to half size. Perhaps it becomes a question of profitability. The actual outcome in the present case is a book of academic interest, but with its practical value diminished by the extensive passage of time in transit from east to west. A final comment is that the copy submitted for review was heavily waterstained at the upper edge of the spine, and, despite a dust-jacket, had some-
362
what scuffed cloth binding. If this condition reflects the average level of quality control by the printers or publishers, then purchasers should be wary. P.J. MILLER
Zoology Department The University Bristol BS8 1UG Great Britain
WOMEN IN COMMERCIAL FISHING
Winds of Change: Women in Northwest Commercial Fishing, C.J. Allison and M.A. Porter, University of Washington Press, Seattle, U.S.A., 1989, 232 pp., US$25.00, ISBN 0-295-96840-0, LC: 89-16422 (1990).
Winds of Change captures the true concept of a fishery, addressing not only the fish populations and environment, but providing a broad view of the entire social system of harvesters, consumers, and all support people in between. This book focuses on the lives o f 10 women involved in the commercial fisheries of the Pacific Northwest, ranging from California north to Puget Sound, Washington, and Kodiak, Alaska. Told largely in their own words, the stories of these women portray lifestyles full of spirit, tenacity, and some uncertainty. Not only are the lives of the women described, but readers also glimpse the parts played in the fisheries by other family members and friends, both male and female. Commercial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest rely on a vast network of individuals, families, associations, corporations, and management agencies. Women play a variety of roles in this network, ranging from homemakers whose skills in home financial management and childrearing allow husbandfishermen to be gone for long periods of time, to administrators charged with the responsibility of setting and enforcing fishery management regulations. The selection of 10 oral histories presented in this volume succeeds in portraying the diverse yet critical contributions women make to the success of the Northwest commercial fishing industry. Featured are women who have been homemakers in fishing families, fish harvesters, processors, distributors, charter boat operators, managers, administrators, and political activists. A refreshing aspect of this book was the authors' initial assumption that women ought to be present in all aspects of the fishery, not that women are an anomaly to be explained. Though certain types of fishery work are noncustomary for women to be engaged in, this approach