There is an enormous area of the Indian Ocean, especially tlie region to the 

 south of the Equator to about lat. 4(V S., of which we know practically nothing ; 

 and the investigation of this region is highly desirable from the point of view of 

 pure scientific research ; but perhaps the greatest claim for the support of such a 

 project comes from the very intimate relationship that exists between oceanography 

 and fisheries. In the publication " Science and UNESCO : International Co- 

 operation " (page 54) it is noted that of the four basic needs for the non-industrial 

 countries, such as India, which the Economic and Social Council will be taking 

 into consideration, the first is " Increased production of food per man-power per 

 day," and this is one of the prime concerns of FAO. 



Around the Indian Ocean a number of Governments have' realized that in the 

 present state of the world's and of local food supplies it is essential that the fisheries 

 should be improved and the methods of fishing be brought up to date and modernized. 

 In order to ensure that this increased exploitation of the fisheries will not be carried 

 on in an unscientific and harmful manner India has recently adopted a scheme for 

 the establishment of a Central Fishery Research Institute with Fishery Research 

 Laboratories on each coast, east and west. 



In addition to India, South Africa, the Islands of the Indian Ocean (Mauritius 

 and Seychelles), Ceylon, and Malaya all have their Director of Fisheries and are 

 carrying out research into their own local problems. In each of these areas a 

 certain amount of pure oceanographic, as well as fishery, observations will of necessity 

 be made, but in order to co-ordinate and correlate the work of these isolated fishery 

 researches it is essential that there should be an Oceanographic Research Institute 

 that would carry out researches in those areas that lie beyond the range of the 

 local fishery research vessels. 



In this way we should be doing something to co-ordinate scientific knowledge 

 and economic development. 



The committee considered proposals submitted by Dr. C. von Bonde, 

 of South Africa, which were as follows : — 



It is difficult to formulate plans for discussion at the proposed meeting, but 

 the following matters appear to be of importance to our work in South African 

 waters : — 



(a) Practical work at sea is being held up at the present moment owing to the 



severe shortage of oceanographic instruments, deep-sea thermometers, 

 and glassware for chemical analyses of sea-water. It is suggested that 

 the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea in Copenhagen 

 be requested to arrange for the immediate manufacture and means of 

 distribution of such apparatus. 



(b) Methods of chemical analyses of sea-water should be standardized and 



printed in English, French, and German, and such publications should 

 be available to marine laboratories throughout the world. 



(c) Anything that can be done to standardize oceanographic routine practice 



at sea would be an advantage. 



(d) Co-operative work between different marine laboratories as a means of 



collecting simultaneous observations at sea on specific problems through- 

 out the oceans of the world should be encouraged, but particular emphasis 

 should be made in regard to problems affecting immediate increases of 

 fish products, having regard to the world shortage of food proteins and 

 fats. 

 I wish to suggest that a member of the International Council for the Exploration 

 of the Sea, Copenhagen, Denmark, be also co-opted. 



Dr. Boschma submitted a series of proposals that had been sent to 

 him by Dr. Kuenen. Dr. Kuenen's proposals were as follows :— 



1. Sedimentation in shallow seas, especially inland seas and shelf areas. These 

 form the closest analogy to fossil sedimentation basins, in which most ancient 

 sedimentary rocks were deposited. So far more attention has been given to deep- 

 water deposits, but from the geologist's point of view the systematic investigation 

 of an inland sea is of at least equal interest : nature and distribution of the sedi- 

 ments, wave and current action, organic content, &c. 



2. The morphology of the Atlantic continental slope of Europe especially to 

 ascertain faults, submarine canyons, &c.(^). 



3. Dredging to carry forward the investigations of Bougart's tracts of sub- 

 merged beach conglomerates at depths of 50 to 400 metres on the continental slope. 



4. If Pettersson's programme is carried out, his results will be of outstanding 

 importance in formulating a programme for further work(2). 



5. Geophysical investigation of the continental slope and deep-sea floor. 



149 



