The FSBI is the premier Society in the British Isles, and increasingly in Europe, catering for the interests of professional fish biologists and fisheries managers. The Society is a Learned Society and, as such, is not a political interest group.

The Society is registered as a United Kingdom charity (Registered Number: 256475) and is affiliated to the UK Institute of Biology and the Society for Science and Technology.

Our purpose is more formally stated in the Society's Constitution and the following extract covers the key points:

"The objectives of the Society shall be to encourage, promote and support all branches of fish biology and fisheries science and conservation. In furtherance of the said objectives, ... , the Society shall have the following powers:

• to convene and provide financial support for meetings on appropriate aspects of fish biology and fisheries science and conservation;

• to disseminate research and technical information through the agency of the Society's journal The Journal of Fish Biology and other means;

• to support research in or connected with fish biology and fisheries management including the provision of travel bursaries, PhD studentships and small research grants;

• to collect and disseminate information on all matters affecting the said objects and exchange such information with other bodies having similar objects whether in this country or overseas"

FSBI Constitution (119 KB) | FSBI Reserves Policy (1.02 MB)

A Council of 14 decides policy on behalf of the members. The day to day affairs are run by the officers which are the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. Council members are elected for a four year term by the members at the Annual General Meeting. This is held concurrently with the annual symposium. The officers are elected at the AGM for a four year term although their status is reconfirmed at each AGM during their term of office. Members may propose candidates for election to Council either as ordinary members or officers. Each year two Council members stand down and replacements are elected. At least one member of Council is from a European country outside the British Isles. All Council members are Trustees of the Society.

Council meets in April and December each year at the Royal Astronomical Society. There are four sub-committees of Council, each of three people, that take care of the business arising from travel grant, research grant and PhD studentship applications. There is also a Finance sub-committee that deals with detailed aspects of financial planning for the Society.

The present Council consists of:

President: Prof Felicity Huntingford (2007-2011) [WWW]

Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow. G12 8QQ UK

Vice-President: Prof Michel Kaiser (2007-2011) [WWW]

School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, LL59 5AB

Secretary: Prof Brian Eddy (2005 - 2009) [WWW]

Faculty of Life Sciences, Biological Sciencs Institute, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK.

Honorary Treasurer: Dr Gordon Copp (2005-2009)

16 Rowton Heath, Norwich NR7 0NT, England

Council members:

Editor of the Journal of Fish Biology: Dr John F. Craig

Whiteside, Dunscore, Dumfries DG2 0UU.

Editor of the Journal of Fish Biology Supplement: Prof Norman Mclean

University of Southampton.

Editor of the Newsletter: Prof Paul Hart

Department of Biology, University of Leicester, LE1 7RH

Editor of the Website: Dr Toby Carter

Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT.

In the mid-1960s a series of annual conferences on non-salmonid fish ecology was initiated in Liverpool by Dr Jack W Jones. Jones was a member of the Department of Zoology in the University of Liverpool. At the third of these so-called Coarse Fish Conferences in March 1967, informal discussion took place about the formation of a British society for fisheries biology. Discussants were Jack Jones, David LeCren, a freshwater biologist at the Windermere Laboratory, Peter Tombleson, an angling journalist and administrator, Lionel Mawdesley-Thomas a fish pathologist at the Huntingdon Research Centre and Alwyne Wheeler a taxonomist at the Natural History Museum, London. The discussions lead to an inaugural meeting of the Society on 21st October 1967 at the meeting rooms of the Zoological Society. At the time, Jimmy Chubb, also from the Department of Zoology, University of Liverpool, was appointed as the first editor of the Journal of Fish Biology. These five people were responsible for the founding of the new Society and for guiding it through its early years.

Jack Jones was the first President but stepped down when he became ill in 1978. Subsequent presidents have been David LeCren, Ray Beverton, Colin Purdom, David LeCren again for a short interim period, John Blaxter and Paul Hart.

In 1992, at the quarter centenary conference in Liverpool the Jack Jones lecture was inaugurated in memory of the founding president. At each summer conference, one of the invited speakers is chosen as the Jack Jones Lecturer. The first Jones lecture was given in Liverpool by Professor Geoff Parker from Jones' old department. Subsequent speakers have included Larry Dill, Richard Haedrich, Ed Houde and Daniel Pauly.

In 1995 the Society decided to award a medal each year to an individual who had contributed significantly to fisheries biology. The first medal was awarded to Ray Beverton who sadly died a few months later. In his honour, the medal is now known as the Beverton Medal. (See below).

Compared with the American Fisheries Society, the FSBI is a newcomer. The AFS was founded in 1870 and has about 8,000 members. Despite this the two Societies maintain close links and Presidents try to attend each other's main symposium of the year.

Office Holders of the Society

2005 Report to the Charities Commission (125 KB) | 2005 Report by the Auditors (157 KB)
2006 Treasurer's Report to the AGM (52 KB) | 2007 Treasurer's report to the AGM (114 KB)

The Society awards two Medals annually to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to fisheries biology.
(Download: Medal Information | Call for Nominations | Nomination Form)

• The Beverton medal is awarded to distinguished scientists who have made outstanding lifelong contributions to the study of fish biology and/or fisheries science.

• The FSBI medal is awarded to younger scientists who are deemed to have made exceptional advances in the study of fish biology and/or fisheries science in recognition of their achievements. Nominees must be under 40 years of age on 28 February of the year in which the medal is awarded. The medal will only be awarded each year if a candidate of sufficient quality is nominated.
  
  

Nominations (Nomination form)

Nominations for both medals may be made by members of the Society at any time of year but should be received no later than 6th March of the year in which the medal is to be awarded.

Nominations for the Beverton medal

The nominator should submit a summary of the nominee's contribution to fish biology and/or fisheries science (no more than one A4 side or equivalent) and list some of his/her major publications.

Nominations for the FSBI medal

Nominations for the FSBI medal should be accompanied by a résumé of the importance of the nominee's work (no more than one A4 side or equivalent) and a list of publications, including those accepted for publication (but not necessarily published) before the closing date for the nomination. Any other information submitted will not be taken into consideration.

Unsuccessful nominations may be reconsidered the following year, the age of the candidate being taken as that at the time of the original nomination. After two years, a nomination will have deemed to have lapsed and will require renomination for further consideration.

Presentation Of The Medals

The Beverton medal will be presented to the successful nominee at the Society's Annual International Symposium held in July each year.
The FSBI medal will be presented to the successful nominee at a time and place mutually agreed by the Society and the recipient.

Submission Of Nominations

Nominations should be submitted in the first instance to the of the Society with due regard to the closing date (6 March). Any further information can be obtained from the Honorary Secretary. Such requests will be treated in confidence.