Despite its importance in the development of fishery advice and management,stock identification continues to be an afterthought. The fishery science community has a habit of building assessments from back to front, often only giving cursory treatment to stock identification, and in the name of being expeditious, population vital rates are estimated without regard to lingering questions about stock structure. We hope that this volume will not only provide source material to improve the quality of stock identification research but also may stimulate new research on stocks being assessed without the benefit of reliable stock identification.