Environmental perturbation and fish populations: Are fish in hot water?

Abstract

The theme of this issue of Fiskerikandidaten is ‘The environment’; this has become a hot topic. The word environment crops up in many different contexts; in scientific literature, in the titles of meetings and conferences, in legislative and regulatory documents, in the media and popular press and on a multitude of internet sites. Discussions about the environment often revolve around ecology, although laymen that take part in these discussions may not be aware of this. We can define ecology as the study of the relationships between organisms and their physical and biological environments, or the study of the spatial and temporal patterns of the distribution and abundance of organisms, including causes and consequences.