Pacific salmon are an important biological and economic resource of countries of the North Pacific rim. They are also a unique group of fish possessing unusually complex life histories. There are seven species of Pacific salmon, five occurring on both the North American and Asian continents (sockeye, pink, chum, chinook, and coho) and two (masu and amago) only in Asia. The life cycle of the Pacific salmon begins in the autumn when the adult female deposits eggs that are fertilized in gravel beds in rivers or lakes. The young emerge from the gravel the following spring and will either migrate immediately to salt water or spend one or more years in a river or lake before migrating. Migrations in the ocean are extensive during the feeding and growing phase, covering thousands of kilometres. After one or more years the maturing adults find their way back to their home river, returning to their ancestral breeding grounds to spawn. They die after spawning and the eggs in the gravel signify a new cycle. Upon this theme Pacific salmon have developed many variations, both between as well as within species. Pacific Salmon Life Histories provides detailed descriptions of the different life phases through which each of the seven species passes. Each chapter is written by a scientist who has spent years studying and observing a particular species of salmon. Some of the topics covered are geographic distribution, transplants, freshwater life, ocean life, development, growth, feeding, diet, migration, and spawning behaviour. The text is richly supplemented by numerous maps, illustrations, colour plates, and tables and there is a detailed general index, as well as a useful geographical index.

The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout explains the patterns of mate choice, the competition for nest sites, and the fate of the salmon after their death. It describes the lives of offspring during the months they spend incubating in gravel, growing in fresh water, and migrating out to sea to mature. This thorough, up-to-date survey should be on the shelf of everyone with a professional or personal interest in Pacific salmon and trout. Written in a technically accurate but engaging style, it will appeal to a wide range of readers, including students, anglers, biologists, conservationists, legislators, and armchair naturalists.

The last major synthesis of our knowledge of fish migration and the underlying transport and guidance phenomena, both physical and biological, was "Fish Migration" published 16 years ago by F.R. Harden Jones (1968). That synthesis was based largely upon what could be gleaned by classical fishery-biology techni.ques, such as tagging and recapture studies, commercial fishing statistics, and netting and trapping studies. Despite the fact that Harden Jones also provided, with a good deal of thought and speculation, a theoretical basis for studying the various aspects of fish migration and migratory orientation, progress in this field has been, with a few excepti.ons, piecemeal and more disjointed than might have been expected. Thus we welcomed the approach from the NATO Marine Sciences Programme Panel and the encouragement from F.R. Harden Jones to develop a proprosal for, and ultimately to organize, a NATO Advanced Research Institute (ARI) on mechanisms of fish migration. Substantial progress had been made with descriptive, analytical and predictive approaches to fish migration since the appearance of "Fish ~ligration." Both because of the progress and the often conflicting results of research, we felt that the time was again right and the effort justified to synthesize and to critically assess our knowledge. Our ultimate aim was to identify the gains and shortcomings and to develop testable hypotheses for the next decade or two.