312 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



fauna, or a species, broad isotherms, isohalines and so forth are sufficient, 

 but for more detailed description of distribution, a more precise measure- 

 ment, with much narrower intervals between the iso-lines, is required. 

 The point which must be made is that the oceanographic programme 

 for fisheries should be carefully planned with a clear view of what is 

 required by the biologist's problem and of the use which he can make 

 of the material and data which are collected. And perhaps it would not 

 be dogmatic to say that where resources for oceanographic research are 

 limited, these should be employed in those situations in which the need 

 for oceanographic data can at once be formulated, rather than in 

 broader fields from which the data may be expected to be of use at some 

 unspecified time in the future. 



7. Oceanographic Requirements in the Indo-Pacific 



On the basis of the foregoing review, and making use of some of 

 the criteria proposed for setting limits upon the oceanographic pro- 

 gramme for fisheries, we may make a brief review of some of the urgent 

 problems for oceanography in this region. 



In the first place it is as well to refer to the important problem of 

 the basic productivity of tropical waters. This has now become a critical 

 question, the sohition of which would have considerable bearing on 

 the planning of future development of fisheries. However, it is a long 

 range problem which, at this stage, stands within the province of the 

 oceanographer with his more general interest. Moreover, it is probable 

 that further advances need to be made in perfecting the techniques for 

 measurement of productivity and in marine biological research on food 

 chains and the nutrition of marine organisms. 



Turning to immediate fishery problems, mention may first be made 

 of the 'major' fisheries of the region, such as for the Rastrelliger spp. 

 of the Indian and Malayan west coasts, of the Gulf of Siam and of In- 

 donesia, the Sardinella longiceps in much the same areas, Stolephorus 

 spp. also in similar areas, Sardinia sp. in Japanese waters, the reef stocks 

 predominantly of Percomorph species, the Pseudosciaena spp. of the 

 China Sea, the Flying fishes (Exocoetidia) of the Celebes and those for 

 the Carangids and Scombroids, more especially within the various island 

 groups. In respect of each of these fisheries the requirement is for 

 oceanographic information bearing upon the distribution of the fish, 

 and the related work concerning the bionomics of each species. In some 

 cases the broad distribution limits are known and the present problem 

 is to determine the distribution of ontogenetic stages and to develop 

 prediction systems; Rastrelliger in the Gulf of Siam, Sardinia in Jap- 

 anese waters, and Pseudosciaena in the China Sea are in this situation. 



