This issue of the Memoirs of the Queensland Museum is devoted to the International Workshop on Ciguatera Management that was held on Bribie Island near Brisbane on 12-16 April, 1993. The Workshop was sponsored by the Australian Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI). Scientists, medical practitioners and fisheries managers with an interest in ciguatera attended the Workshop which focused on current research having implications for the management of ciguatera.

Fifty six registrants from Japan, USA, France, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Germany and each of the eastern sea-board states of Australia attended. The Workshop comprised talks, posters and two discussion sessions which specifically addressed (i) the detection of ciguateric fishes and (ii) the management of ciguatera cases. P. Scheuer opened the scientific program with an historical perspec­tive of modem ciguatera research initiated by the late A.H. (Hank) Banner and outlined some of the challenges for the future.

Major themes of the Workshop were: 1. Chemical and immunological aspects of the detection of toxins involved in ciguatera. 2. Pharmacology and treatment of ciguatera. 3. Origin of the toxins involved in ciguatera. 4. Clinical aspects and epidemiology of ciguatera.