88 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



Due to adverse conditions, the expert of FAO was not able to com- 

 plete the brief oceanographical survey, as planned, but was able, on 

 his last voyage to the Galapagos Archipelago, to take some hydrometer 

 readings in correlation with the sea-surface temperature. 



The results of these observations will be published soon by FAO 

 in the form of a report. 



Ecuadorean biologists which attended the Latin American Fish- 

 eries Training Centre, held in Valparaiso in 1952 will probably con- 

 tinue the investigation initiated by the FAO expert. 



PERU 



Scientific investigations with regard to the Peruvian Current are 

 undertaken in Peru by the Department of Fish and Game (Direccion 

 de Pesca y Caza) of the Ministry of Agriculture in Lima, by the Hydro- 

 graphic and Lighthouse Service (Servicio Hidrografico y de Faros) of 

 the Peruvian Navy, and by the Company for the Administration of 

 Guano (Compania Administradora del Guano). 



The investigations of the Department of Fish and Games refer 

 mainly to studies of the biology of commercially important species of 

 fish, conducted at a laboratory installed at the fishing terminal in the 

 port of Callao. 



The studies of the Hydrographic Service of the Navy are at their 

 beginning. They shall encompass the investigation of some problems 

 in which the Navy is interested and a general oceanographical research 

 agreed upon with the Company for the Administration of Guano which, 

 however, has not yet been started. 



This company is studying the basic ecological conditions of the 

 habits of guano birds and has, therefore, initiated the collection of 

 Oceanographic and Meteorological data including sea-surface tempera- 

 tures since 1939. Special studies of plankton and the life cycle of the 

 anchovy, which is the basic food of guano birds, and the investigations 

 of the populations of important food fishes as well as aquatic mam- 

 mals found in Peruvian waters are also being carried on. 



As a result of these activities the Guano Company has published 

 already the first part of an Atlas of the Coastal Current of Peru (Atlas 

 de la Corriente Costanera Peruana) and a series of Monthly Maps of 

 the Peruvian littoral with indications of the average sea-surface tem- 

 perature, air temperature, barometric pressure and wind, direction and 

 force, for the years 1946 to 1951 (published during 1952), and is pres- 

 ently editing a new set of monthly maps containing the same data for 

 the 14 years between 1939 and 1952, which also indicate the trends 

 for the year 1953. 



