The FSBI celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2017, and to commemorate this landmark we are delighted to announce an International Symposium covering many aspects of fish biology under the broad theme of Understanding Fish Populations, to be hosted at the University of Exeter, UK, 3–7 July 2017. Please see the conference website for full details.
Over half of all vertebrate species are fish, and this dazzling array of biodiversity underpins aquatic foodwebs, influences global biogeochemical cycles, underpins livelihoods and feeds the human population. The study of fish biology deepens our understanding of genetics, developmental biology, physiology, sensory ecology, animal behaviour, population biology, macroecology and evolution. But fish populations around the globe now face a multitude of established and emerging threats, and fish biologists and fisheries increasingly focus on the responses of individuals, populations and communities, using a range of approaches from computer modeling and laboratory experiments to field studies and socioeconomics. Since humans increasingly rely on fish for protein, meanwhile aquatic habitats are being lost or degraded at an accelerating rate, the work of fish biologists and fisheries scientists in understanding the impact of a changing world on fish populations has never been more important. Our meeting will bring together international fish scientists from academia, governmental and regulatory agencies and industry, to address a broad suite of fundamental through to applied topics, with the primary aim of generating a programme for future research in targeted areas critical to developing greater understanding of threatened fish populations.
The meeting also provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the influence of the FSBI in shaping fish and fisheries science over past the 50 years, and to consider our direction in the 21st century. The programme will include a number of events to commemorate our founder members, to showcase the work of FSBI-funded PhD students and grant holders, and to celebrate the success of our influential publication, the Journal of Fish Biology.
