This article is a study of the scattering of sound by fish in the forw
ard direction. It is shown that in contrast to the situation with back
scattering, the fish body rather than the swimbladder is primarily res
ponsible for forward-scattering at high frequencies. In addition, the
forward-scattering function of fish has a simple structure compared wi
th the backscattered signal. Since the shape of a fish body is relativ
ely easy to obtain, models for which the fish body is the major target
are expected to be superior to those based on the swimbladder. More e
xperimental work on the forward-scatter of sound by fish would seem wo
rth while. Comparisons are made with the acoustic backscattering by fi
sh. (C) 1996 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea