H-2 



INTRODUCTION 



Stocks, we recommend that efforts should be made to continue and expand 

 investigations of the biology, ecology and population dynamics of krill, and 

 of the distribution of its swarms. We also recommend that in estimating the 

 size of these stocks, modern techniques such as echo-sounding surveys should 

 be used in addition to net hauls. 



In another recommendation, the subcommittee wrote: 



In view of the enormous gaps in our knowledge of the stocks of such 

 potentially important and presently under-exploited fisheries resources as the 

 cephalopods, pelagic and demersal fishes, we recommend that in-depth 

 studies of the biology, distribution, biomass and population dynamics of 

 these resources be undertaken. 



Perhaps one of the most significant recommendations of the Montreal meeting was 

 Recommendation No 5: 



We call attention to the significance of the biological oceanographic studies in 

 the Southern Ocean as prerequisites for the wise management of these 

 resources. We wish to express our concern at the deceleration of many 

 biological studies aboard research vessels in the southern waters. We realize 

 the enormous difficulties of undertaking the fomiidable task of studying the 

 marine ecosystem of the vast expanses of the Southern Ocean when only one 

 or two oceanographic ships are utilized. We, therefore, recommend that a 

 well co-ordinated International Biological Investigation of the Southern 

 Ocean (IBISO), utilizing multiple ships, be undertaken. The objectives of 

 IBISO might include: 



(a) the study of the trophodynamics of the Antarctic ecosystem 



(b) the provision of data/information for the conservation and wise manage- 

 ment of the hving resources of the Southern Ocean 



(c) the provision of data/information for monitoring poUutants at all levels 

 in the food web and in the water column. 



The Montreal recommendations were later approved by the Thirteenth Meeting of SCAR in 

 September 1974, and by the International Co-ordination Group for the Southern Ocean of IOC 

 at its meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1974. In March 1975, the Executive Council 

 of IOC invited the SCAR subcommittee: 



to prepare practical proposals for collaborative investigations in biological 

 oceanography in the area and to prepare proposals for working toward the 

 organization of multiship studies for submission to SCAR and SCOR and 

 through them to the IOC International Co-ordination Group. 



At the Eighth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting held in Oslo, Norway, in June 1975, it was 

 recommended that the governments: 



. . . invite SCAR to continue its scientific work on these matters and to 

 consider convening, as soon as practicable, a meeting to discuss current work 

 and report on progress for the study of conservation of Antarctic marine 

 living resources. 



In recognition of these new responsibilities, SCAR, at its executive meeting in June 1975, 

 upgraded the status of the marine living resources subcommittee to a group of specialists. The 

 terms of reference adopted for this group are: 



I. To assess the present state of knowledge of the Antarctic marine 

 ecosystem from the point of view of structure, dynamic functions, and 

 biomass of the organisms at different trophic levels. 



