The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude to the numerous persons without whose kind assistance, unknowingly in the case of many, this book would not have seen its light. First and foremost, gratitude goes to those staff members of FAO who over the course of the past 50 years have coordinated the APFC Secretariat and thereby maintained the Commission’s institutional memory. Most recently, Mr. P. Durst deserves mentioning for his untiring efforts in supporting the APFC, as well as for commissioning this volume. In this respect, the author also wishes to thank Ms. P. Gunatiloke, FAO Bangkok, and Ms. F. Monti, FAO Rome, for their help in identifying suitable references, and L. G. Eldredge of the Pacific Science Association for his contributions to the early history of the APFC. Last but not least, appreciation for their invaluable comments goes to the reviewers of this manuscript, Mr. N. Vergara, Mr. C. Chandrasekharan and Mr. P. Durst.
