This site is a companion for the American Fisheries Society book “Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes”. The book, published in 2009, recommends standard methods for sampling freshwater fishes in North America. It was developed by 284 biologists from 107 agencies, universities, and organizations across Canada, Mexico and the United States. Increasingly biologists are adopting these methods so they will be able to compare their data to those collected by other organizations, in other regions or across time.
This web site is organized in four major sections. “About Standard Sampling” provides more information about standard sampling in general and how these techniques were developed by the American Fisheries Society. “Comments” allows you to comment on specific techniques so those working on future editions can incorporate your comments. “Compare Your Data With North American Standards” allows you to compare fish data collected from your water body to North American, Ecoregion, State and Provincial averages and percentiles. “Method Validation” shows you the latest research on the validation or “ground truthing” of specific standard methods.
Fishery managers rely on a wide variety of tools for the management and assessment of fish populations to maintain diverse and productive aquatic ecosystems and high quality recreational fisheries. One of the most valuable tools is rotenone, a chemical commonly used by fishery professionals throughout North America since 1947 to control fish and as a sampling aid.
The AFS Special Committee on Educational Requirements has completed a final draft of a list of North American colleges and universities that offer degrees in fisheries-related disciplines. The list is available for download in spreadsheet format via the Education Section website.