Last Review Date: August 15, 2019
This 2014 guideline is provided by the American Fisheries Society, the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Copyright 2014, Guidelines for the use of fishes in research, American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.
The 2014 Guidelines were developed to provide a structure that ensures appropriate attention to valid experimental design and procedures while also ensuring humane treatment of the experimental subjects. At a practical level, the Guidelines are intended to provide general recommendations on field and laboratory activities, such as sampling, holding, and handling fishes; information on administrative matters, including regulations and permits; and advice concerning ethical questions, such as perceptions of pain or discomfort that may be experienced by experimental subjects. These Guidelines must be recognized as guidelines. They are not intended to provide detailed instructions but rather to alert researchers to a broad array of topics and concerns with which they should become familiar before they initiate studies.