The argument is made that early life history studies of fishes often seem to receive less recognition and support than their real potential would merit. I believe that the state of the art in these studies has advanced to the stage where efforts to improve their image could be usefully promoted. It is suggested that their promotion could be facilitated by their identification with saleable goals relating to resource problems of regional or national concern. Three major goals for these studies are seen to involve recruitment, culture, and water quality. A number of interdisciplinary activities that are supported by or contribute to these goals are listed. The question of publication also is considered. There appear to be adequate repository journals for studies in the domains of culture and water quality, but not in recruitment biology. The suggestion follows that there is need for recognition of the associations between the three domains, embodied in early life history studies, in the format of some current journals; indeed, there may even be a place in the literature for a journal of recruitment biology. Finally, the development of a compendium of basic early life history data is proposed, constructed around a carefully defined format based on the common activities contributing to the three related research domains and their indicated goals.