| We reviewed the literature concerning fish aggregation devices (FADs) to determine areas of relative research deficiency. Using specific searches of the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts ( ASFA) database from 1978 to December 2003 and a classical search of the pre-1978 literature, we collected 407 references on FADs. Publications before 1980 were predominantly peer-reviewed, although non-peer reviewed literature has dominated since 1980, due to the numerous technical reports produced as FADs became more widely used in artisinal and large-scale industrial. sheries in the 1980s. Most studies of the ecology of FAD-associated fish were descriptive, with few mensurative experimental studies and even fewer manipulative experimental studies that tested... |
