The catalog covers more than 53,000 species and subspecies, over 10,000 genera and subgenera, and includes in excess of 16,000 bibliographic references. Entries for species, for example, consist of species/subspecies name, genus, author, date, publication, pages, figures, type locality, location of type specimen(s), current status (with references), family/subfamily, and important publication, taxonomic, or nomenclatural notes. Nearly all original descriptions have been examined, and much effort has gone into determining the location of type specimens.

The Genera are updated from Eschmeyer’s 1990 Genera of Recent Fishes. Both genera and species are listed in a classification using recent taxonomic schemes. Also included are a lengthy list of museum acronyms, an interpretation of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, and Opinions of the International Commission involving fishes.

The Catalog of Fishes consists of three hardbound volumes of 900-1000 pages each, along with a CD-ROM (not sold seperately). This work is an essential reference for taxonomists, scientific historians, and for any specialist dealing with fishes.

This online course is free, and uses the FishBase.org data sets. There’s probably not a more comprehensive ichthyology course available online, and being available for free makes it a real treasure. It’s self-paced – you work through, use the FishBase data for reference, makes some notes and reflect, and all for free – a generous gift by the authors.

The guide provides a structure and case study material for a computer-based course in ichthyology for upper undergraduate and graduates students in biology or environmental science.

The key resource made accessible through this guide is FishBase, a large database on the biology of fish, available on CD-ROM (for the Windows operating system) and on the Internet (www.fishbase.org/search.cfm).

This revision of the original Aqua-Topic, titled _Aquaculture for Youth and Youth Educators_, was created in response to continued demand from teachers, youth leaders, and students who are interested in receiving information and ideas on aquaculture for projects and study. The information which follows is for students at upper elementary through high school learning levels. Recommended activities at the end of the text are organized by level of difficulty; Level I being the least difficult and Level III being the most difficult. The activities can be modified depending on geographic area and availability of resources. A glossary is also included at the end of the text for those students who need assistance with vocabulary. Words that are marked by asterisks in the text can be found in the glossary. Bibliographies are also included at the end for both students and teachers.

The focus is on starting an aquaculture enterprise in an Australian-type of context – i.e. where an investment of millions of dollars is required, rather than a backyard type of operation where the goal is to raise fish for yourself, or perhaps a small local market. The information is still valuable, with the checklist covering site, species etc being relevant to fish farming everywhere.

Setting up in aquaculture can be an expensive exercise and is not for the faint-hearted. First you need to acknowledge that this represents a significant business decision and requires a serious commitment.

Just like any other business venture, aquaculture requires a detailed feasibility study before investment decisions are made. Anything less than that puts you in the category of hobby farming, which is an excellent lifestyle choice but may not earn income.

The perception of aquaculture as an appealing lifestyle choice is a commonly held belief in Australia, possibly fuelled by our by our preference for coastal living. This has led on occasions to emotional rather than hard economic reasons driving what can be a ‘make or break’ financial decision. In retrospect, it appears that there are a number of conceptual hurdles at which the prospective aquaculturist may stumble. They are:

• a too ready acceptance of new or untried technology
• ignorance of the fact that aquaculture is a farming/business enterprise
• under capitalisation
• lack of market intelligence
• failure to understand that the product is a living organism with special requirements, because of its specific water quality requirements.

• Modern salmon aquaculture first appeared in Chile around 1980 and has been developed in the southern Regions.

• Today, aquaculture is Chile’s fourth largest exporter, making Chile the world’s leading trout farming country and world number two in salmon farming. In 2001, the Chilean salmon industry exports were worth close to US $964 millions.

• Chile offers optimal environmental conditions: the temperature of the water, the quality of the water, geography, availability of fishmeal, and availability of suitable production sites.

• Aquaculture has a huge potential for development in Chile and investigations are progressing with several new species.

• The success of salmon farming has led to a number of social and economic effects. The southern regions now have some of the highest levels of employment in the country; currently 40,000 direct and indirect jobs result from the industry. These developments have also led to cultural changes as aquaculture requires trained people, at all levels.

The School of Aquaculture of the Catholic University of Temuco has hatchery and fish farming facilities, and offers aquaculture technician and degree courses. The web site offers content in spanish and english.

The FAO has published a profile of fisheries in Chile, (2000) which includes aquaculture. The FOA observe:

In Chile, this sector has been characterized for being one with bigger dynamics and importance of the national fishing sector, and for having reached a high development which began in the 80’s, mainly based in the culture of salmonoids and, at a lower level, molluscs, clams and seaweeds.

Unfortunately I had underestimated the greed of perch and came home after school to find my perch had decided to take charge of the situation. It had attempted to swallow one of the other inhabitants in the tank – a fish about two-thirds the size of the perch. The perch swum around for the rest of the day with the other unfortunate fish’s tail poking out its mouth. Next morning the perch was also dead.

I kept perch in tanks again, back then, but never explored their growth patterns. What would’ve been useful then is Perch Dissection in Mr. Tippett’s Biology Class. This excellent set of photos clearly shows the inner workings of a fish.

SITO is the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) for New Zealand’s seafood industry. Each year they are allocated funds by New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to encourage businesses in the seafood sector to provide training for their employees. SITO provides a link between the Tertiary Education Commission and the seafood industry; and ensure funding provided by the Government for industry training in the seafood industry is used effectively.

SITO is developing NZ Aquaculture Best Practice Guideline and a NZ training structure, including developing and reviewing Aquaculture Learning Resources during 2005. They have written a number of unit standards (of assessment) which are registered on the NZ Qualifications Authority (NZQA) web site. These unit standards build into national certificates and qualifications, the content of which can be found on the NZQA web site – search keyword: aquaculture.

SITO have developed a couple of learning resources – one on the biology of a fin fish – Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and another entitled: Outline How NZ Greenshell™ Mussel (kutai, kuku) Spat Are Obtained And Used.

The unit standards and assessment guidelines can be found on the SITO web site. Please don’t consider this entry to be 100% current – it is as written – but it is a changing world, and SITO will be keeping up to date.

The SIFTS technology will be suitable for growing fish in freshwater and marine environments as well as in saline ponds in inland areas of Australia. Challenger TAFE’s research partners are CY O’Connor College of TAFE and Murdoch University. Australian Fisheries and Conservation Minister Senator Ian Macdonald said SIFTS showed considerable promise as it would allow for growing large numbers of fish at low cost, and with minimal environmental impacts. “SIFTS consists of specially designed floating tanks that sit within an inland saline pond, using the water while ensuring that the wastes are retained or used for fertilising certain crops such as fodder and turf,” Macdonald said.

Campus Review Vol 15, No. 21, page 10. 1 June 2005. title: A fishy tale at Challenger. www.campusreview.com.au