Overview of the Aquarium and Site Ethos:

This site came about from an idea that I had in late 1997, but that never really materialised on my own web-site. After an e-mail from Alan Pemberton, and a discussion on the IAC Sea-fishing Mailing list, this Project... The UK Sea Fishing Aquarium...... arose.

The major stumbling block to such an undertaking had always been, time and resources, or more accurately the lack of them, that any individual could devote, in terms of their own web-site. And so whilst the idea of a UK Sea Fish ID Guide, was in itself not new, few if any had tried to tackle it head-on.......

As a result, the project team was formed on the understanding that, first and foremost, this was to be a team effort. That personal gratification towards the pages that they contributed to, would be minimised, so as to prevent any form of rivalry occurring, from what was after all, a loose confederation of individuals, with / in the process of having their own (potentially rival) web sites. This site should therefore be viewed as a collaborative effort, rather than being a single individuals creation.....

The project so far would seem to have fallen into a number of phases:

Phase.1. Finding a suitable, independent site, that this project could call home....... To this end, our thanks must go, to Mat Hillman and the IAC, for finding us such a place with UKOnline.......

We also had to prepare a basic format for the presentation of information for this site, along with a home page, etc.....

Phase.2. The researching of material, by the individual members of the team, on their assigned species towards the ID section of each page. To write that material in the prescribed format, and then have it scrutinised by the rest of the team, with what ever amendments were felt necessary. As a result, the team member responsible for the bulk of the data submitted for any given page / area, have been credited as the main contributing author in the meta tag area (to be found, in the source HTML code). You are however reminded, that alterations to the original submission may well have occurred, through suggestions made by other members of the project team.

All photographic material, has however been credited to the individuals concerned, as far as I'm aware.......

**Note: So that the scientific names for each species could be clearly read, they have been underlined, rather than being italicised

Phase.3. The addition of specific fishing information, for the more common species, and notes on conservation and tagging of others, notably the sharks and rays. Plus additional pages, covering such things as a Bibliography, links, etc, etc.....

It is my hope that you will enjoy this site as much as we have enjoyed putting it together, and that you will return to it as and when. Please feel free to contact us, if you find an error that we have missed, or material that you wish to have considered for submission.

Phil Whiting
Feb.1998.

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