FISHES AND MANKIND 405 



establishment of fishery research towards the close of the 

 nineteenth century. The Fishery Board for Scotland led the 

 way in the 'eighties, but with the foundation of the now famous 

 Marine Biological Association at Plymouth in 1884, similar 

 investigations were soon undertaken in England. The greatest 

 advance took place in 1899, when, realising the international 

 character of the great sea-fisheries, the King of Sweden invited 

 representatives of all the interested maritime powers to a 

 conference at Stockholm "to elaborate a plan for the jomt 

 exploration in the interests of the sea fisheries of the hydro- 

 graphical and biological conditions of the Arctic Ocean and 

 the North and Baltic Seas." The response was general, and as a 

 result of this conference and another similar gathering held m 

 Christiania in 190 1, the "International Council for the Explora- 

 tion of the Sea" came into being, with permanent head- 

 quarters at Copenhagen and a central laboratory at Oslo. 

 Included in the Council are representatives of all the countries 

 of Northern Europe, with important fishing interests (with the 

 exception of Soviet Russia), as well as those of Spain, Portugal, 

 and Italy. Its object is to see that the natural resources of the 

 sea are exploited in a rational manner, and to this end to co- 

 operate the researches of the various countries involved, each 

 being allotted a certain area of the sea for special investigation, 

 in addition to carrying out general work on a more extensive 

 scale with the approval of the Council. The central bureau 

 publishes a number of monographs, papers, and notes of all 

 kinds, mostly of a technical nature and written in various 

 languages, deahng with the fish and fishery investigations, and 

 in addition each country publishes its own reports, often of a 

 voluminous nature, of investigations undertaken by its own 

 specialists in the different branches of fishery research. In this 

 way a great deal of overlapping is avoided, and a vast amount 

 of valuable information has been placed on permanent record. 

 In Scotland the investigations are carried on under the 

 auspices of the Fishery Board for Scotland, with a laboratory 

 at Aberdeen and a vessel of the trawler type, the Explorer, for 

 research at sea. In addition, there is another laboratory at 

 Millport at the mouth of the Clyde. Up to the year 19 10 the 

 EngUsh share of the international investigations was undertaken 

 largely by the Marine Biological Association, which, in addition 

 to their laboratory and research vessel at Plymouth, maintained 

 another station at Lowestoft, with another vessel, the Huxley, for 

 marine work. In 1 910 the complete control was taken over by 



