139 



The central office of the council, suppo^-ted by grants from the 

 different governments (in 1928-29 these government grants totalled 

 177 000 Danish krBner) and operating ti-rongh a complex si^stem of 

 snh-coirjnitteesl, plans the general progran, and allocates the v.'ork 



rr'^H^ report of the Council for ly^^b lists the roilOT.'ing committees : 

 Consultative, north Eastern Area, llorth '"^estern Area, Tjorth Sea 

 (with two divisions), Transition Area, Atlantic Slope, Hydrograph- 

 ical. Plankton, Statistical, Limnolof-ical , Editorial, Finance, -Toray 

 Firth, and ^Thaling. 



as .lust stated. But the actual field projects are carried on b- the 

 Fisheries or other services of the several associated governments. 

 As a rule these services have at their disposal medium sized steam- 

 ers of 400-800 tons, which carry out quarterly cruises, sonetines 

 acting as prtrol vessels in addition. In some instances small nav- 

 al vessels are assigned to the work of the council, while a few of 

 the governments maintain vessels for this especial purpose, e.g. the 

 Scottish "Explorer", tie Portuguese "Albacora" and the Norwegian 

 "Johan Hjort". 



The scientific examination of the biological collections is 

 also carried out for the most part by the gover-nm-ent laboratories. 

 But as physical oceanographers are seldom included within the staff 

 of in-^^estigators in European fisheries services, it has frequently 

 been necessary to relegate the discussion of physical data to scient- 

 ists not directly connected with them, or with the council. In fact 

 much of the physical material still rem.ains to be worked up. The 

 detailed results, especially those of the biologic investigations, 

 are also published in many cases by the governments as official do- 

 cuments. But the central office of the Council itself maintains 

 several series of periodicals for t^-e publication both of raw data 

 (statistical as to^the fisheries, hydrographic, and lists of plank- 

 ton) and of summaries and reports of progress for various aspects 

 of the investigations. The Council has also paid much attention to 

 developing im.proved ar-iiaratus, the need for which was especially 

 pressing di^ring the early years of its life, and to encouraging the 

 use of standardized methods. 



In general the executive machiner^^ of the Council has proved 

 excellent lAT adanted for insuring a continuing program of studv over 

 large areas of the sea, by concerted international effort, and over 

 a period long enough to outline the regular seasonal varintions in 

 the latter, as well as to show the smaller irregular fluctuations. 

 It has also proved a highly successful wa^^ of accumulating a vast 

 amount of mw data co^'ering a wide range of marine problems, both 

 rihvsical and biological, as well as data concerning the life hist- 

 ories and economic relationships of the food fishes. Bu.t systematic 

 analysis (especiallv the sAmthesls of results gained in different 

 fields) has not Vept nace with the accumulation of facts, illustra- 

 ting the general rule" that it is much easier to arrange for the col- 

 lection of data at sea (which soon becomes a routine affair) tba:: 

 it is for the analytic study, b- com.petent scientists, of tne vast 

 amount of material* that soon accumulates when any 'oint project is 

 carried on ccntinuouslv over a term of years. To arrange that rhis 



