This book, which arose from the aquaculture biosecurity sessions held at the March 2004 WAS conference in Honolulu, USA, is a typical proceedings volume. The book contains 12 out of the 30 presentations given at the conference, and the designation of these as ‘chapters’ is misleading. The arrangement of the contributions within the book does not follow an obviously logical sequence, nor do the contributions provide a holistic overview of the biosecurity field. The contributions are essentially a potpourri of overview articles, operational guidelines and experience papers, with the main focus and emphasis on North America. As such, the book will probably attract a limited international readership, and it may rapidly join the ranks of the ephemera published in the aftermath of aquaculture conferences.

The contributions most likely to be of interest to general readers are those that deal with the use of disinfectants and other chemotherapeutic agents, health assessment and surveillance, and the practicalities of establishing biosecurity measures on farms (Chap. 8–10). The contributions covering international and national approaches to biosecurity issues and policy-making are also likely to have several supporters and adherents. The experience papers are less likely to prove attractive, even though they do provide some useful insights and observations.

The technical quality of the book is good; the cover is solid and the binding robust. The presentation of the various contributions (‘chapters’) is uniform, although there are understandably some differences and disparities in writing style. Authors have adopted a common format for literature citation and the presentation of reference lists, and the references include many of recent date (the most recent citations are from 2005). The typeface is clear, the printing of even quality, the tables and line diagrams have been reproduced well, and there are few printing errors.

This is a curate’s egg of a book, containing a couple of contributions that should be of interest to many within the international aquaculture fraternity. On the other hand, some contributions will whet the appetite of very few. This results in an asking price that is on the high side for the book as a whole. I suspect that this proceedings volume will not find its way on to the bookshelves of many individual aquaculturists, and that most purchases will be made by the libraries of research institutes and academic organisations.