A highly successful fourth Indo-Pacific Fish Conference (IPFC) on the 'systematies and evolution of Indo--Pacific fishes' was held in Bangkok from 28 November to 4 December, 1993. This Conference, held every 4 years, followed well-attended meetings at Sydney, Tokyo and Wellington. It was hosted jointly by the Fisheries Faculty of Kasetart University and the Thai Ministry of Fisheries of Agriculture and Cooperatives. More than 200 participants from a record 32 countries attended. The large Asian contingent, including excellent participation from Japanese and Thai students, augurs well for future ichthyological research in the region.
Fish and fisheries have a high prof'lle in Thailand. The Conference was opened by the Prime Minister and the keynote address was delivered by the Director-General of Fisheries. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish products with an annual production exceeding 3 million tonnes, worth more than AS4 000 million. It also has one of the world's largest fishing fleets (more than 50000 vessels). Both addresses and the welcoming address by the Conference chairman, Professor Supap Monkolprasit, reflected a commitment to expanding the research effort. A new institute of aquatic biodiversity and systematic studies is soon to be established.
The Conference consisted of seven symposia in concurrent sessions covering a diverse array of biological fields with an emphasis on general biology, reproduction, genetics, zoogeography, systematics and evolution. Symposia mostly focused on distinct systematic or ecological groups, with separate sessions on gobies, chondrichthyans, larval fishes, freshwater fishes, coral reef fishes, estuarine and mangrove fishes, and deep-sea fishes. In all, more than 130 oral papers and 16 posters were presented. The quality of presentations was generally of a high standard.
Following the formal opening, keynote addresses were delivered by Dr Teruya Uyeno (evolutionary changes in NW Pacific Tertiary fishes), Dr John Randall (highlights of coral reef fishes), and Professor Monkolprasit (studies on fish taxonomy in Thailand).
A large content of the Conference was dedicated to chondrichthyan research, with more biologically orientated sessions being followed by a special symposium on elasmobranch conservation. Unlike many past meetings, papers dealt with all chondrichthyan groups (i.e. sharks, rays and chimaeras). Faunal papers covering New Caledonia, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Taiwan Strait, and north-eastern Brazil provided new zoogeographic information and an insight into the 'real' diversity of these fishes.
The elasmobranch conservation sessions, sponsored by the IUCN, included formal presentations, a workshop, and a series of informal meetings of the Shark Specialist Group. A major objective of this meeting was to construct an action plan for the conservation of threatened populations of chondrichthyan species. Major concerns were expressed for freshwater elasmobranchs, some endemic marine species with narrow distributional ranges, and the international trade in shark fins.
This Conference is a valuable forum for Asian freshwater fish biologists. With such large numbers of Asian freshwater fish species threatened, it was encouraging to see an