Fishery Bulletin 
Guidelines for contributors 
Content of papers 
Articles are reports of 10 to 30 pages (double 
spaced) that describe original research in one or 
a combination of the following fields of marine 
science: taxonomy, biology, genetics, mathematics 
(including modeling), statistics, engineering, eco- 
nomics, and ecology. Notes are reports of 5 to 10 
pages without an abstract that describe methods 
and results not supported by a large body of data. 
Although all contributions are subject to peer 
review, responsibility for the contents of articles 
and notes rests upon the authors and not upon 
the editor or the publisher. It is therefore impor- 
tant that authors consider the contents of their 
manuscripts carefully. Submission of an article 
is understood to imply that the article is original 
and is not being considered for publication else- 
where. Manuscripts must be written in English. 
Authors whose native language is not English 
are strongly advised to have their manuscripts 
checked for fluency by English-speaking colleagues 
prior to submission. 
Preparation of papers 
Text 
Title page should include authors’ full names and 
mailing addresses (street address required) and 
the senior author’s telephone, fax number, e-mail 
address, as well as a list of key words to describe 
the contents of the manuscript. Abstract must 
be less than one typed page (double spaced) and 
should not contain any citations. It should state 
the main scope of the research but emphasize 
the author’s conclusions and relevant findings. 
Because abstracts are circulated by abstracting 
agencies, it is important that they represent the 
research clearly and concisely. 
General text must be typed in double-spaced for- 
mat. A brief introduction should state the broad sig- 
nificance of the paper; the remainder of the paper 
should be divided into the following sections: Mate- 
rials and methods, Results, Discussion (or Conclu- 
sions), and Acknowledgments. Headings within each 
section must be short, reflect a logical sequence, 
and follow the rules of multiple subdivision (i.e. 
there can be no subdivision without at least two 
subheadings). The entire text should be intelligible 
to interdisciplinary readers; therefore, all acronyms 
and abbreviations should be written out and all 
lesser-known technical terms should be defined the 
first time they are mentioned. The scientific names 
of species must be written out the first time they 
are mentioned; subsequent mention of scientific 
names may be abbreviated. Follow Scientific style 
and format: CBE manual for authors, editors, and 
publishers (6th ed.) for editorial style and the most 
current issue of the American Fisheries Society’s 
common and scientific names of fishes from the 
United States and Canada for fish nomenclature. 
Dates should be written as follows: 11 November 
1991. Measurements should be expressed in metric 
units, e.g. metric tons (t). The numeral one (1) 
should be typed as a one, not as a lower-case el (1). 
Footnotes 
Use footnotes to add editorial comments regarding 
claims made in the text and to document unpub- 
lished works or works with local circulation. Foot- 
notes should be numbered with Arabic numerals 
and inserted in 10-point font at the bottom of the 
first page on which they are cited. Footnotes should 
be formatted in the same manner as citations. 
If a manuscript is unpublished, in the process of 
review, or if the information provided in the footnote 
has been conveyed verbally, please state this infor- 
mation as “unpubl. data,” “manuscript in review,” 
and “personal commun.,” respectively. Authors are 
advised wherever possible to avoid references to 
nonstandard literature (unpublished literature that 
is difficult to obtain, such as internal reports, pro- 
cessed reports, or administrative reports, ICES 
council minutes, IWC minutes or working papers, 
any “research” or “working” documents, laboratory 
reports, or contract reports, and manuscripts in 
review). If these references are used, please indicate 
whether they are available from NTIS (National 
Technical Information Service) or from some other 
public depository. Footnote format: author (last 
name, followed by first-name initials); year; title of 
report or manuscript; type of report and its admin- 
istrative or serial number; name and address of 
agency or institution where the report is filed. 
Literature cited 
The literature cited section comprises works that 
have been published and those accepted for publi- 
cation (works in press) in peer-reviewed journals 
and books. Follow the name and year system for 
citation format. In the text, write “Smith and Jones 
(1977) reported” but if the citation takes the form 
of parenthetical matter, write “(Smith and Jones, 
1977)”. In the literature cited section, list citations 
alphabetically by last name of senior author: For 
example, Alston, 1952; Mannly, 1988; Smith, 1932; 
Smith, 1947; Stalinsky and Jones, 1985. Abbrevia- 
tions of journals should conform to the abbrevia- 
tions given in the Serial sources for the BIOSIS 
previews database. Authors are responsible for the 
accuracy and completeness of all citations. Litera- 
ture citation format: author (last name, followed by 
first-name initials); year; title of report or article; 
abbreviated title of the journal in which the article 
was published, Volume number, page numbers. For 
books, please provide publisher, city, and state. 
Tables 
Tables should not be excessive in size and must be 
cited in numerical order in the text. Headings in 
tables should be short but ample enough to allow 
the table to be intelligible on its own. All unusual 
symbols must be explained in the table legend. 
Other incidental comments may be footnoted (use 
italic arabic numerals for footnote markers). Use 
asterisks only to indicate probability in statistical 
data. Place table legends on the same page as the 
table data. We accept tables saved in most spread- 
sheet software programs (e.g. Microsoft Excel). 
Please note the following: 
* Use a comma in numbers of five digits or more 
(e.g. 13,000 but 3000). 
• Use zeros before all decimal points for values 
less than one. 
Figures 
Figures include line illustrations, computer-gener- 
ated line graphs, and photographs (or slides). They 
must be cited in numerical order in the text. Line 
illustrations are best submitted as original draw- 
ings. Computer-generated line graphs should be 
printed on laser-quality paper. Photographs should 
be submitted on glossy paper with good contrast. 
All figures are to be labeled with senior author’s 
name and the number of the figure (e.g. Smith, Fig. 
4). Use Helvetica or Arial font to label anatomical 
parts (line drawings) or variables (graphs) within 
figures; use Times Roman bold font to label the 
different sections of a figure (e.g. A, B, C). Figure 
legends should explain all symbols and abbrevia- 
tions seen within the figure and and should be 
typed in double-spaced format on a separate page 
at the end of the manuscript. We advise authors to 
peruse a recent issue of Fishery Bulletin for stan- 
dard formats. Please note the following: 
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word of 
axis labels. 
• Do not use overly large font sizes to label axes 
or parts within figures. 
• Do not use boldface fonts within figures. 
• Do not create outline rules around graphs. 
• Do not use horizontal lines through graphs. 
• Do not use large font sizes to label degrees of 
longitude and latitude on maps. 
• Indicate direction of degrees longitude and 
latitude on maps (e.g. 170°E). 
• Avoid placing labels on a vertical plane 
(except ony axis). 
•Avoid odd (nonstandard) patterns to mark 
sections of bar graphs and pie graphs. 
Copyright law 
Fishery Bulletin , a U.S. government document, is 
not subject to copyright law. If an author wishes to 
reproduce any part of this publication in his or her 
work, he or she is obliged, however, to acknowl- 
edge the source of the extracted literature. 
Submission of papers 
Send four printed copies (one original plus three 
copies) — clipped, not stapled. — to the Scientific Edi- 
tor, at the address shown below. Send photocopies 
of figures with initial submission of manuscript. 
Original figures will be requested later when the 
manuscript has been accepted for publication. 
Do not send your manuscript on diskette until 
requested to do so. 
Dr. John V. Merriner 
Scientific Editor, Fishery Bulletin 
Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat 
Research, NOS 
101 Pivers Island Road 
Beaufort, NC 28516 
Once the manuscript has been accepted for pub- 
lication, you will be asked to submit a software 
copy of your manuscript. The software copy should 
be submitted in WordPerfect or Word format (in 
Word, save as Rich Text Format). Please note that 
we do not accept ASCII text files. 
Reprints 
Copies of published articles and notes are avail- 
able free of charge to the senior author (50 copies) 
and to his or her laboratory (50 copies). Additional 
copies may be purchased in lots of 100 when the 
author receives page proofs. 
