Geostatistics for Estimating Fish Abundance

Geostatistics is a branch of spatial statistics that was originallydeveloped for the mining industry. The technique is now widelyrecognised as an important tool for the estimation of the abundanceand distribution of natural resources. However, new developmentshave been required to extend its application to fisheries science, particularly in variogram estimation. This important new titledescribes the fundamentals of geostatistics in terms more familiarto life-scientists, and uses case studies on seven commerciallyimportant fish stocks to demonstrate its application to fisheriessurvey data. Comprehensive and practical advice is given on howthis new method can be used to estimate the abundance (with anappropriate measure of precision) of fish stocks worldwide. Geostatistics for Estimating Fish Abundance will be of vitalinterest to fisheries research scientists, marine biologists, oceanographers, marine and fish ecologists, environmentalscientists and experts involved in the assessment of natural animalresources. The book has been developed as a result of studies carried outby a collaborative team of international researchers expert in thisarea with financial support from the Commission of the EuropeanCommunities, AIR specific RTD programme. J. Rivoirard and N. Bez are at the Centre de Géostatistiquede Fontainebleau, Ecole des Mines de Paris, France, J. Simmonds andP. Fernandes are at the FRS Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, UK and K. Foote is at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway and atWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA.