by Daniel Pauly
“The Tactics and Strategy of Growth in Fishes” is a 1974 paper by Thomas Derrick Iles, a work that Daniel Pauly emphasizes as essential.
According to Dr. Pauly, Iles’ ideas signify a significant leap in comprehending the growth of fish, marking a substantial conceptual progress. “Notably, it demonstrated conclusively that the reproduction of fish does not influence their growth, but rather it showed that ‘far from growth depending on maturity; on the contrary, maturity depends on growth’,” Pauly wrote. “People who work on fish growth need to read this paper, which, however, was hard to access.”
Further valuable insights can be found below in the foreword crafted by Pauly for Ile’s paper.
Foreword
The book chapter authored by Derek Iles and published in 1974 under the title “The Tactics and Strategy of Growth in Fishes” was a major conceptual advancement in understanding the growth of fishes.
Notably, it demonstrated conclusively that the reproduction of fish does not influence their growth, but rather it showed that “far from growth depending on maturity; on the contrary, maturity depends on growth.”
However, Iles’ chapter was part of a book whose 22 contributions, including the ‘Epilog’ by Ray Beverton, assembled in honor of Michael Graham, is hard to access. Moreover, the references to all this book’s chapters are combined in a single alphabetical list, making it difficult to photocopy and share a complete version of Iles’ paper, which may be why it is inaccessible through Google Scholar.
The full reference of this chapter is:
Iles, D. 1974. The Tactics and Strategy of Growth in Fishes, Chapter 16, p. 331-345 In: In: E.R. Harden-Jones (ed.) Sea Fisheries Research. Elek Science, London.
To facilitate the sharing of this chapter, this PDF not only reproduces it, but also includes its 87 references, as extracted from the book’s bibliography on pages 331 to 345.
Daniel Pauly
Vancouver, BC
11 November 2023
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The entire chapter is now available to everyone; access full PDF from this link.
