Over the past few years, there has been significant growth and development in the salmon farming industry. In order to be successful, practitioners not only need to know how the salmon lives and survives in the wild but, amongst other things have knowledge of disease, production processes, economics and marketing. The Handbook of Salmon Farming is a practical guide that covers everything the practitioner needs to know, and will also be of great use to academics and students of aquaculture and fish biology. The editors have invited contributions from experts in academia, the fish industry and government to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive handbook.

with the issues involved in the management of salmon fishing. farming and ranching and the implications for production costs and the availa bility of supplies. Chapters 6 and 7 investigate processing. marketing and distribution and Chapter 8 discusses the workings of salmon markets and the main factors affecting the demand for salmon. Finally. chapter 9 summarises the main findings of the study and considers the issues likely to define the future of the industry. The main interest of the book is in salmon sold commer cially and mention is only made in passing of the rather different. though important. issues involved in the management of sport or recreation fisheries. This book does not cover all species of salmon but concentrates on the main species of current commercial significance. These are the five commercially important species of Pacific salmon all of which belong to the single separate genus ONCORHYNCHUS together with SALMO SALAR. the Atlantic salmon. The related SALMO GAIRDNERI (rainbow trout) and SALMO TRUTTA (brown troutl seatrout) are outside the scope of the book. although since these compete closely with salmon. the relationship is discussed. 1.2 THE SALMON: LIFE CYCLE AND SPECIES The family salmonidae is indigenous to the Northern Hemisphere and is found from the temperate zone northwards to beyond the Arctic Circle. 1n both Pacific and Atlantic waters. They are not· native to the Southern Hemisphere but have been successfully introduced into New Zealand. into Argentina. Venezuela and more recently Chile and the Kerguelen Islands.

This book is a completely new edition of Fresh Seafood-The Commer cial Buyer's Guide, which was first published in 1984. There have been many changes in both product and the seafood business in the intervening years. About 70 percent of the material in this book is new, a tribute to the rapid pace of change throughout the industry. The subject of this book is fresh seafood. "Fresh" is defined as product handled under refrigeration (mechanical or ice) from har vester to consumer. This excludes frozen product, canned product and other shelf-stable packaging. Frozen seafoods are covered in the companion volume, The New Frozen Seafood Handbook. Many prod ucts are, of course, handled in both refrigerated and frozen forms. There may be substantial differences, not just in how they are han dled, but in how they are processed, graded and packed. Frozen sea foods are often treated and traded as commodities, with standard descriptions. Marketing and distributing fresh fish and shellfish, which has to be eaten within days of harvest, is necessarily more personal and direct. The contest between refrigerated and frozen seafoods has continued for many years and shows no signs of resolving. Despite massive im provements in the quality of much frozen product, consumers and their retail and restaurant suppliers still tend to believe that "fresh" is bet ter, perhaps simply because the word "fresh" is naturally appealing.