The Pacific and Indian Oceans provide about one-half of 

 the world fish catch, although together they constitute 

 three-fourths of the oceanic waters in the world. Their 

 shores are bordered by some of the most populous nations 

 on earth. In these coastal areas alone live about a billion 

 people, one-third of the world's population. 



To develop and properly use the living aquatic resources 

 of the Indo-Pacific area and further to attain these ends 

 through international cooperation, an Indo-Pacific Fisheries 

 Council was established in 1948 under the auspices of the 

 United Nations. The Council has 17 members, comprising 

 most of the nations of the region with the notable exceptions 

 of mainland China and the U.S.S.R. The Council has met 11 

 times, most recently in October 1964 at Kuala Lumpur, 

 Malaysia. There the United States was represented by 

 John C. Marr, Area Director, BCF, Hawaii. 



The 12th Session of the Council is now scheduled for 

 Honolulu in October 1966. It will mark the first time the 

 group has met on American soil. 



One of the most productive fishery regions on earth is the 

 Kuroshio Current off Japan. Originating in tropical waters, 

 the warm "Black Current" sweeps northeastward oflT the 

 coast of Japan, follows a great arc beneath the Aleutian 

 Islands, and eventually contributes to the sluggish south- 

 moving California Current that influences the climate of 

 our western States. 



A major international survey of this Pacific counterpart 

 of the Gulf Stream is now underway. Participating nations 



include: Japan, Hong Kong. Korea, the Philippines, the 

 Republic of China, the United States, and the U.S.S.R. At 

 the request of the Department of State, Marr serves as 

 U. S. National Coordinator of the Cooperative Study of the 

 Kuroshio and Adjacent Regions (CSK). 



Object of the CSK is an intensive effort to understand 

 the oceanography, and secondarily, the fisheries of this 

 fruitful region of the sea. 



The need for international studies of fishery resources, 

 and particularly tuna resources, figured in the deliberations 

 of the American Fisheries Advisory Committee when it met 

 in Honolulu in January 1964. The Committee placed special 

 emphasis on the fishery resources of Hawaii and the central 

 Pacific Ocean. Organized under the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act 

 of 1954, the Committee is responsible for advising the 

 Secretary of the Interior on general fishery matters. One 

 of the earliest conclusions reached at the meeting was that 

 in view of the fact that the tuna fisheries are becoming 

 more international in nature and world tuna consumption 

 has increased, the "United States must make every effort 

 to increase its catch of tuna." 



In its proceedings the Committee emphasized the need 

 for further studies of the oceanography of the Pacific Ocean 

 as it relates to the fisheries, and it is in that field that for 

 several years our Laboratory has poured much of its effort, 

 becoming the acknowledged center of oceanographic re- 

 search in the central Pacific. 



THE SEA 



The Cruises of the Townsend Cromwell 



Townsend Cromwell was a modest, cheerful, and able 

 oceanographer who lost his life in a plane crash in 1958. 

 He was 36. Bearing his name today are a son, a major 

 ocean current, and one of the Nation's finest vessels for 



oceanographic research, a ship much better equipped than 

 any Townsend Cromwell ever had a chance to use. 



The subsurface C'ronnvell Current which Tow^^send Crom- 

 well discovered while on the staff of the Bureau's Labora- 

 tory in Honolulu, is one of the principal features of the 



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