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Marine production mechanisms
Aquaculture, 18 (1979) 69-71 o Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company,
69 Amsterdam
- Printed
in The Netherlands
Book Reviews MARINE
PRODUCTIVITY
Marine Production Mechanisms. M.J. Dunbar (Editor), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979. International Biological Programme, 20, 338 pp., illus., $25.00, ISBN O-521-21937-X. The International Biological Programme (IBP) was established by the International Council of Scientific Unions in 1964. The programme was terminated after 10 years of work in mid-1974. The present volume is the 20th in the IBP series. It contains a selection of results of investigations related to basic productivity studies and studies on ecosystem structure and trophic relations. Nine countries are represented with 16 contributions, of which a half are written by leading scientists of the U.S.S.R. It is stated in the book that the Productivity Marine (PM) section of IBP filled an important role in concentrating international effort on specific problems of production, ecosystem structure and function, aquaculture and the effects of mankind upon the marine environment. Notwithstanding the truth of this statement in a general sense, the aquaculturist will hardly find useful and relevant information in this rather hastily prepared book. The haste is the more surprising as, although the IBP was terminated in mid-1974, the book was not published until 1979. Most of the authors stopped collecting literature in 1974. The very informative paper by Grindley on “Factors determining the productivity of South African coastal waters” demonstrates the lack of careful editing, for out of the 219 references given in the “bibliography” only 102 are used in the text (still a lot!) and three references given in the text are not mentioned in the “bibliography”. Some division of the bibliography into references cited and related references would have been useful. Ms. Van der Eijk’s contribution on the Dutch Wadden Sea is rather sloppily prepared and the available data not too well evaluated. The interactios between trace elements in the sea bed and in the water is highly speculative and still under investigation. The same is true for the behaviour of heavy metals in suspended matter. Today this is explained as a mixing phenomenon, not as a mobilization process (compare e.g. older publications of De Groot (not this reviewer) with more recent work). Far too many mistakes are made in the spelling of authors’ names, different spellings being used on different occasions when citing one and the same reference. The work of A.J. de Groot should be cited in the text as e.g. “De Groot (1966)” - not “Groot (1966)“. Twice references are given in a heading (p. 205, p. 221). Does this indicate that Ms. Van der Eijk is now summarizing the thoughts and work of these persons? Here too, of the 96 references (in fact 95), 47 are not mentioned in the text and one (Postma, H., 1954) is given twice. The 47
70
references not cited should have been omitted as they have nothing to do with IBP work carried out in The Netherlands. A well known professor always asked his students when this happened, “didn’t you read all the references or are you too shy to admit it and therefore not citing them in the text?” The editor, in his preface, writes of the four-page contribution by Velasquez on seaweed production in the Philippines, “most refreshing reading. It should sell the whole book”. Perhaps refreshing in length compared with the other papers; however, no reason to buy the book. The only reference in the text of this paper, Doty (1973), is not given. I guess it should read, “Doty, S., 1973. Farming the red seaweed Euchema for carrageenan. Micronesia, 9: 59-73”. The fact that the ninth seaweed symposium at Santa Barbara in 1977 contained about 500 papers on seaweed seems to have passed by unnoticed. I tried to understand fig. 11.3 in Petipa’s paper, showing food webs in the tropical plankton community of the Pacific Ocean, but failed. Notwithstanding these rather critical remarks, this IBP book is a valuable one, as it gives a good idea of what is going on in the U.S.S.R. Their scientists are working on the seven seas, and to get translations of their work is often impossible and mostly difficult. I think this should sell the book. In general I feel the book is only of borderline interest to readers of ‘Aquaculture’. S.J. DE GROOT
(IJmuiden,
TILAPIA
The Netherlands)
IN AFRICA
Tilapia. A Guide to their Biology and Culture in Africa. J.D. Balarin and J.P. Hatton. University of Stirling, Unit of Aquatic Pathobiology, Stirling, 174 pp., illus., tables, $8.50, ISBN 0-90-163623-l. Since 1924, when tilapia culture was first experimentally initiated in Africa, an avalanche of publications, progress reports, etc. has spread over the scientific world as well as among the circles of aquaculturists. In view of the considerable upsurge in husbandry and research work, especially in recent years, there is a need to collect and collate the considerable mass of information in a comprehensive form. This synthesis and evaluation might serve as a guide for the student in a research institute as well as for the worker in the field with little access to scientific references. The book prepared by Balarin and Hatton fulfills the requirements for such a compendium for those involved in the rearing of tilapia in Africa (and not Africa alone!). The worker in the third world, with little or no access to sophisticated computerized retrieval systems will, by acquiring this book, have a source to work from. Throughout the book there is a bias towards intensif-
69 Amsterdam
- Printed
in The Netherlands
Book Reviews MARINE
PRODUCTIVITY
Marine Production Mechanisms. M.J. Dunbar (Editor), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979. International Biological Programme, 20, 338 pp., illus., $25.00, ISBN O-521-21937-X. The International Biological Programme (IBP) was established by the International Council of Scientific Unions in 1964. The programme was terminated after 10 years of work in mid-1974. The present volume is the 20th in the IBP series. It contains a selection of results of investigations related to basic productivity studies and studies on ecosystem structure and trophic relations. Nine countries are represented with 16 contributions, of which a half are written by leading scientists of the U.S.S.R. It is stated in the book that the Productivity Marine (PM) section of IBP filled an important role in concentrating international effort on specific problems of production, ecosystem structure and function, aquaculture and the effects of mankind upon the marine environment. Notwithstanding the truth of this statement in a general sense, the aquaculturist will hardly find useful and relevant information in this rather hastily prepared book. The haste is the more surprising as, although the IBP was terminated in mid-1974, the book was not published until 1979. Most of the authors stopped collecting literature in 1974. The very informative paper by Grindley on “Factors determining the productivity of South African coastal waters” demonstrates the lack of careful editing, for out of the 219 references given in the “bibliography” only 102 are used in the text (still a lot!) and three references given in the text are not mentioned in the “bibliography”. Some division of the bibliography into references cited and related references would have been useful. Ms. Van der Eijk’s contribution on the Dutch Wadden Sea is rather sloppily prepared and the available data not too well evaluated. The interactios between trace elements in the sea bed and in the water is highly speculative and still under investigation. The same is true for the behaviour of heavy metals in suspended matter. Today this is explained as a mixing phenomenon, not as a mobilization process (compare e.g. older publications of De Groot (not this reviewer) with more recent work). Far too many mistakes are made in the spelling of authors’ names, different spellings being used on different occasions when citing one and the same reference. The work of A.J. de Groot should be cited in the text as e.g. “De Groot (1966)” - not “Groot (1966)“. Twice references are given in a heading (p. 205, p. 221). Does this indicate that Ms. Van der Eijk is now summarizing the thoughts and work of these persons? Here too, of the 96 references (in fact 95), 47 are not mentioned in the text and one (Postma, H., 1954) is given twice. The 47
70
references not cited should have been omitted as they have nothing to do with IBP work carried out in The Netherlands. A well known professor always asked his students when this happened, “didn’t you read all the references or are you too shy to admit it and therefore not citing them in the text?” The editor, in his preface, writes of the four-page contribution by Velasquez on seaweed production in the Philippines, “most refreshing reading. It should sell the whole book”. Perhaps refreshing in length compared with the other papers; however, no reason to buy the book. The only reference in the text of this paper, Doty (1973), is not given. I guess it should read, “Doty, S., 1973. Farming the red seaweed Euchema for carrageenan. Micronesia, 9: 59-73”. The fact that the ninth seaweed symposium at Santa Barbara in 1977 contained about 500 papers on seaweed seems to have passed by unnoticed. I tried to understand fig. 11.3 in Petipa’s paper, showing food webs in the tropical plankton community of the Pacific Ocean, but failed. Notwithstanding these rather critical remarks, this IBP book is a valuable one, as it gives a good idea of what is going on in the U.S.S.R. Their scientists are working on the seven seas, and to get translations of their work is often impossible and mostly difficult. I think this should sell the book. In general I feel the book is only of borderline interest to readers of ‘Aquaculture’. S.J. DE GROOT
(IJmuiden,
TILAPIA
The Netherlands)
IN AFRICA
Tilapia. A Guide to their Biology and Culture in Africa. J.D. Balarin and J.P. Hatton. University of Stirling, Unit of Aquatic Pathobiology, Stirling, 174 pp., illus., tables, $8.50, ISBN 0-90-163623-l. Since 1924, when tilapia culture was first experimentally initiated in Africa, an avalanche of publications, progress reports, etc. has spread over the scientific world as well as among the circles of aquaculturists. In view of the considerable upsurge in husbandry and research work, especially in recent years, there is a need to collect and collate the considerable mass of information in a comprehensive form. This synthesis and evaluation might serve as a guide for the student in a research institute as well as for the worker in the field with little access to scientific references. The book prepared by Balarin and Hatton fulfills the requirements for such a compendium for those involved in the rearing of tilapia in Africa (and not Africa alone!). The worker in the third world, with little or no access to sophisticated computerized retrieval systems will, by acquiring this book, have a source to work from. Throughout the book there is a bias towards intensif-