The Chapman and Hall Fish and Fisheries Series occasionally includes books devoted to a single taxon of fish that are of particular interest to fish and fisheries science. All three previous books of this type (Cichlid Fishes, Cyprinid Fishes, Sea Bass) have included important material on commercial fishery exploitation, but Hake: Biology, fisheries and markets, number 15 in the Series, is the first book that focuses on a major global fishery resource. This book brings together detailed analyses of the ocean habitats, biology, ecology, assessment and management of all the hake fisheries of the world for the first time. Globally, there are ten major world fisheries for 12 species of hake on both sides of the North and the South Atlantic, the Mediterra­ nean, the eastern North and South Pacific and New Zealand. The book includes an overview of industrial markets and products of hake. Hake fisheries are of particular economic interest as their location spans almost a complete spectrum of industrial development from major industrial countries like USA, Canada, Spain and Italy through New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Chile to Morocco, Peru, Mauritania, Namibia and Angola.