THE ALLAN HANCOCK FOUNDATION FOR SCIENTIFIC 



RESEARCH 



By Irene McCullock, LTiiiversity of Southern California, Los Angeles, 



California 



At the Allan Hancock Foundation for Scientific Research at the Uni- 

 versity of Southern California, Los x^ngeles, California, most of the 

 emphasis wiU continue to be placed on marine biological research in the 

 fields of Invertebrate Zoology. 



Some oceanographic research under the direction of Dr. K. 0. Emery 

 and assistants will centre on the eleven partially closed basins off southern 

 California in an attempt to find the mutual dependence of sea-water 

 characteristics and diagenesis with the hope that knowledge of environ- 

 ments existing at present in the basins will lead to better understanding 

 of the conditions of petroleum accumulations in the Los Angeles oil fields. 



A thorough core sampling programme of the various deep basins on 

 the Continental Shelf off southern California is planned in connection 

 with oceanographic work. New coring apparatus is in process of con- 

 struction and should be available for this work by the end of 1948. 



Along with extensive programmes in the field of marine invertebrate 

 research, the limited research programme in oceanography and sedimenta- 

 tion studies, much time and thought will be placed on the development 

 of equipment, directly connected with the ship and otherwise, the 

 possibilities of television from ocean bottom to the ship, and the use of 

 a benthoscope for direct observation of ocean bottoms around the islands 

 off southern California. Some time will be spent on developing more 

 effective nets for obtaining animal populations, including fish. 



THE PACIFIC OCEANIC BIOLOGY PROJECT 



By Charles J. Fish, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 



Except in Japanese home waters, Palau and Bikini, there has been 

 relatively little research on the biology of pelagic ocean populations 

 of the central and western North Pacific. There remains a dearth of 

 data on the interaction of biological processes and the environmental 

 factors involved in their production, distribution and fluctuations^ 

 particularly in tropical areas. Such major problems, involving multiple 

 controlling factors, require the combined services of a group of 

 experienced investigators in a carefull}'. co-ordinated long-range 

 programme. 



Following the termination of the war a Pacific Science Conference 

 in Washington, on 6th to 8th June, 1-946, recommended to the National 

 Research Council the organization of a Pacific Science Survey. Oceanic 

 biology was one of the subjects proposed and endorsed by the Conference. 

 However, as recommended, oceanic biologj^ problems in the central and 

 western North Pacific "... should not be attacked before a 

 thorough survey has been made of the information accumulated by our 

 own agencies during the war, gathered by our allies or contained in 

 captured Japanese documents. The first step toward approaching many 

 problems should, therefore, be an examination and critical analysis of 

 that information." It was considered especially important that 

 Japanese data be reviewed in the light of recent developments in marine 

 biology in other countries. 



161 



6 — Pac. Congress 



