92 



INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



"Revista," of which vols. 1 

 have been published. 



-6, 1930-May, 1935 



Conseil Permanent International pour I'Exploration 

 de la Mer ('37) 



History or origin:- The first International Con- 

 ference on the exploration of the sea took place in 

 Stockholm on the 15th of June, 1899, in response 

 to an invitation from His Majesty, King Oscar II 

 of Sweden. This invitation was extended by the 

 Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the govern- 

 ments of Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, and 

 Ireland, as well as to the Norwegian, Netherlands, 

 and Russian governments, and transmitted a 

 program indicating the purpose of the Conference, 

 which was to undertake in the interests of fisher- 

 ies, the exploration of the Arctic Ocean, the North 

 Sea, and the Baltic by means of international 

 endeavor. Translations of extracts from the 

 program proposed by His Majesty, Iving Oscar, 

 to the Conference are as follows: 



I 



"Periodic and simultaneous scientific observations, 

 four times a year, on the salinity of sea water, its tem- 

 perature, its content of different gases, the quality and 

 quantity of the plankton at places indicated by previous 

 researches as being the most important. 



"1. The system of currents of the North Atlantic and 

 the changes which take place there during the different 

 seasons, for upon them depends the variation in the 

 plankton, or the food of fishes which is suspended in 

 the water, as well as the appearance and disappearance 

 of migrant fishes, in the above mentioned marine areas; 

 "2. The temperature of, and the quantity of heat 

 which is found in the water layers at different seasons 

 and on which depend the climate and the weather in the 

 countries bordering the North Sea as well as in all of 

 northern Europe, especially in the winter and in the 

 spring. 



In order to answer these questions the Conference 

 should be charged: 



a. To organize a complete network of observations 

 and to divide them according to territory to be studied 

 between the contracting parties according to the prin- 

 ciple that each country should make scientific re- 

 searches in that part of the sea which is nearest its 

 own coast; 



* The account here given of the establishment of the 

 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea is 

 based upon an article entitled "La fondation du Conseil 

 International pour I'Exploration de la Mer par les Con- 

 ferences de Stockholm (1899), de Christiana (1901), et de 

 Copenhague (1902)," in Rapport Jubilaire (1902-1927): 

 Cons. Perm, internat. pour I'Explor. de la Mer, Rap. et 

 Proc.-Verb. des Reun., vol. 47, pt. I, pp. 3-29, 1928. A 

 number of the passages in this article have been translated 

 into English, other parts are briefly summarized or merely 

 mentioned. 



b. To fix the periods of the simultaneous observa- 

 tions that are to be made; 



c. To determine the methods to be used in making 

 soundings on board ships and in the analytical work in 

 laboratories. It will be necessary, for example, to 

 take measures to ascertain the exact relations between 

 the salinity of the waters of the sea, its specific gravity, 

 and its temperature, and to ascertain the best methods 

 for determining these constants, as well as to test 

 methods for the qualitative and quantitative estima- 

 tion of plankton (under which is included the floating 

 eggs and the larvae of fishes) ; 



d. To indicate the general bases for the coordination 

 of the results obtained and their publication. 



II 



"1. By means of fishery experiments, undertaken at 

 the same time as the scientific investigations on the 

 hydrographic and biological features, under the direction 

 of qualified scientific specialists on board ships equipped 

 for this purpose. As examples of this kind, there may be 

 cited the investigations of Hensen and of Apstein in the 

 North Sea in 1895 and those of the Fishery Board along 

 the coast of Scotland during several summers, and of 

 the Danish Biological Station in the Cattegat. 



"2. By sending aboard ordinary fishing vessels (trawl- 

 ers, drifters, and vessels engaged in the capture of whales 

 and seals) assistants, who simultaneously with fishing, 

 would make hydrographic and biological observations 

 on the food content for fishes of the water and of the sea 

 bottom, as well as on the eggs and larvae, and they would 

 observe the quantity, the size and the stage of develop- 

 ment of the fish taken on the fishing grounds with dif- 

 ferent gear. 



Ill 



"1. An agreement between different maritime stations 

 of the North Sea for the division of work and the study of 

 certain questions important for the fisheries. For 

 example, 



a. The conditions of existence of oj'sters and lobsters, 



their propagation and growth; 



b. The racial characters, morphologic and physiologic 



of the edible fishes, such as the herring, plaice, 



cod, mackerel, et cetera. 

 The Conference should endeavor to organize the 

 scientific work in common and to make a division of the 

 work between all those stations, which today work in 

 isolation, and to give them every possible support by 

 international cooperation." 



At the first Conference, which was opened on 

 the 15th of June, 1899, the following countries 

 were represented: Germany, Denmark, Great 

 Britain and Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, 

 Russia, and Sweden. The following is a transla- 

 tion of the resolutions which were unanimously 

 adopted : 



"Considering that a rational exploitation of the sea 

 should be based in so far as possible on scientific research, 



