238 
Fishery Bulletin 112(2-3) 
National Marine Fisheries Service Best 
The award for best publication of the year is given to 
authors who are employees of the National Marine 
Fisheries Service and whose article is judged to be the 
most noteworthy of those published in Fishery Bulletin 
and Marine Fisheries Review. The selections were made 
by scientists at all NOAA Fisheries Science Centers 
and thus represent well-deserved recognition by peers. 
Authors from the National Marine Fisheries Service 
are noted in bold font. 
The winners for Fishery Bulletin 
Rose, Craig S., Carwyn F. Hammond, Allan W. Stoner, 
J. Eric Monk, and John R. Gauvin 
Quantification and reduction of unobserved mortality rates 
for snow, southern Tanner, and red king crabs ( Chionoecetes 
opilio, C. bairdi [ and Paralithodes camtschaticus ) after encoun- 
ters with trawls on the seafloor 
Fish. Bull. 111:42-53. 
This clearly written paper presents an excellent study 
of an important topic for ecosystem-based fisheries 
management. The problem of unobserved mortality of 
bycatch is a consequential yet unaccounted for aspect 
of numerous fishery operations and is of worldwide 
concern. The paper efficiently describes a well-thought- 
out and well-executed approach to quantification of un- 
observed and unintended mortalities of commercially 
valuable crab species that encounter bottom trawls tar- 
geting ground-fish in the Bering Sea. Care was taken 
in the design of the experiments and in the thorough- 
ness of the research and this paper provides a practi- 
cal, low-cost, and innovative method for reducing crab 
bycatch mortality rates while maintaining catch lev- 
els for target fish species. Moreover, the authors went 
beyond quantification of unobserved crab mortalities 
and incorporated the design and testing of modified 
trawl gear, which — if adopted by commercial fishing 
fleets — could mitigate bycatch mortalities. This kind 
of research can be tedious, but it is only through just 
such studies that a real understanding of the effects of 
trawling and the extent of unobserved mortality rates 
can be obtained. This work addresses a breadth of 
questions and provides practical management insights 
(based on a well-defined model) that could be expanded 
for the study and management of other species. 
Paper Awards for 2013 
The winner for Marine Fisheries Review 
Castro, Jose 
Historical knowledge of sharks: ancient science, earliest Amer- 
ican encounters, and American science 
Mar. Fish. Rev. 74(4): 1-26. 
This impressive, particularly well-written and re- 
searched compendium of shark information demon- 
strates how sharks have interacted with humans over 
time and how our understanding and study of these 
often misunderstood creatures have progressed since 
antiquity. This paper is of wide interest and utility to 
those who study the biology of sharks and their use by 
humans. It is the result of a monumental undertaking 
that required numerous years of research to amass the 
knowledge and material that is presented. This type of 
effort is time consuming and sometimes underappre- 
ciated. The paper highlights the value of older docu- 
ments that are not available to any but the most schol- 
arly of scientists with avid interest in fisheries history. 
For example, rare pictures and engravings of sharks 
show progressively more sophisticated and detailed 
depictions through several centuries up to the present 
time. This paper will keep alive such past works that 
are difficult to find and allow them to still contribute 
to current scholarly works and research efforts. The 
detailed explanation of how sharks have been utilized 
over time and how fisheries operated in the past passes 
on information that is available to few. Dr. Castro, for 
example, has one of the only surviving documents from 
the Ocean Leather Company. His discussion of the his- 
tory of this company and how it is intertwined with 
past U.S. fisheries and research will enlighten even the 
most seasoned shark researcher. This article is truly 
an interesting and detailed work by one of the world’s 
foremost experts on sharks. 
