19 



Indian Ocean 



The Indian Ocean Program was organized in 1962 following 

 assignment to the Laboratory of responsibilities for the fisher- 

 ies phase of the United States Program in Biology of the Inter- 

 national Indian Ocean Expedition. Biologists of the Exploratory 

 FishingBase at Seattle, Washington, cooperated with those at 

 the Biological Laboratory in planning four of the nine cruises 

 of the United States Program that were carried out by the 

 National Science Foundation research vessel, the Anton Bruun. 



Two longline and two trawling cruises were organized to 

 investigate the fish and shellfish of potential commercial value 

 in the little-known waters of the Indian Ocean. Three of the 

 cruises were completed in 1963. Information and specimens 

 obtained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists and oceanogra- 

 phers on these cruises will supply much of the material needed 

 for the various facets of the United States Program, though 

 other participating organizations, such as the U.S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey and the Lament Geological Observatory, will 

 contribute supplemental material. 



The Bureau's Indian Ocean Program was designed to fulfill 

 two primary and two secondary missions. The primary 

 missions were (1) to study the biology of the large pelagic 

 fishes such as tunas, billfishes, and sharks in the central and 

 western Indian Ocean, and (2) to explore the shelf areas of the 

 Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal for benthic fishes and shell- 

 fishes. The secondary objectives were (1) to learn the indentity 

 and distribution of larval and juvenile tunas and (2) to study 

 the zoogeography, ecology, and systematics of planktonic cope- 

 pods of the family Candaciidae in these waters. All of these 

 studies were planned to provide scientific information about 

 these little-known areas of the sea and to indicate their poten- 

 tial value as sources of protein foods for nearby nations. 



The track of the Anton Bruun on the three cruises made in 

 1963 is shown in figure 22. Two trawling cruises (1 and 4B) 

 were made to collect data on the benthic fishes and inverte- 

 brates of the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, while a long- 



line cruise (2) sought data on the pelagic fishes of the Indian 

 Ocean. 



A 42-foot Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl (fig. 23) was used 

 to sample the benthic fauna. During cruise 1, in March and 

 April, 1963, a total of 27 successful hauls was made in depths 



Figure 22. --Track of the Anton Bruun in Bay of Bengal 

 (cruise 1); central Indian Ocean (cruise 2); and 

 Arabian Sea (cruise 4b). 



