BIODIVERSITY

This position statement is the outcome of several years of preparation and review within the American Fisheries Society (AFS). In 1991,the A FS Executive Committee (Excom) directed the Environmental Concerns Com mittee [ECC; later to become the Resource Policy Committee (RPC)] to i nitiate development of an AFS position statement on biodiversity. ECC Chair Hal Tyus assigned this task to Cochair Brian Winter, who develop ed a draft statement. The draft was reviewed by the RPC and members of the AFS Endangered Species Committee. At this point, Robert Hughes wa s added as coauthor because of his expertise. The comments received we re incorporated in a new draft, which was then reviewed by a second RP C. The draft statement was again modified and returned to the RPC, whi ch then forwarded it to the Excom for review. The Excom approved the d raft statement at the 1994 AFS annual meeting for publishing in Fisher ies for membership comment; it was included in the April 1995 (Vol. 20 , No. 4) issue. Eight AFS member comment letters were received within a 90-day period, and the statement was revised accordingly. The Govern ing Board approved the revised statement on 27 August 1996. All AFS po sition statements are intended to reflect the diversity and geographic al scope of the AFS membership. Every effort is made to ensure that ea ch position statement is acceptable to most AFS members.