The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) just published the fourth and final 100-year special anniversary issue of the highly respected scientific journal California Fish and Game.

Print copies of the latest issue, focusing on special fisheries, and the three previous issues on native plants, marine life and terrestrial wildlife, are available for purchase through Aug. 31. Volumes 1, 2 and 4 are $6.47 each, plus tax and shipping. Volume 3 is $8.25, plus tax and shipping.

All four issues are also available for download at no charge. Links to both options can be found at www.dfg.ca.gov/publications/journal/contents.html .

The newly released special fisheries issue includes both historical accounts and the results of original research on fisheries ecology conducted by CDFW scientists, as well as by scientists in other resource management agencies, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations.

It features an introduction by Fran Pavley, chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, and additional remarks co-authored by CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham and E. Philip Pister, retired CDFW fisheries biologist.

In her introduction to the fisheries issue, Pavley writes, “This topic is appropriate-or perhaps ironic-in this third year of severe drought, when fresh water supply is a critical issue for all Californians. The drought's effects may be even more severe on wildlife than on humans, since fish and animals can't store, import pump groundwater, or buy water in bottles. They live or die with what nature (and sometimes we) can provide.”

California Fish and Game is an internationally recognized research publication read primarily by scientists in the fields of conservation, ecology and natural resource management.

It focuses on the wildlife of North America's west coast (primarily California) and the eastern North Pacific Ocean, but occasionally includes material from elsewhere.

It is the longest continuously running scientific journal in California.