FISHERY AND SCIENCE 155 



term of five years, dealing with trawling, the release of 

 marked fish, the gathering of plankton, currents, and 

 the temperature and salinity of the water. The first 

 successes were so encouraging that two years later, in 

 May, 1901, Norway convened a second conference at 

 Christiania. The same nations were represented : France 

 again held aloof. At the second conference the objects 

 of research were determined in greater detail. The 

 North Sea was divided into zones radiating from the 

 Dogger Bank, and each of the signatory countries was 

 entrusted with one or more zones. England furnished 

 a vessel, the Huxley, and a sum of over .40,000 to be 

 divided over three years ; Germany, the Poseidon and an 

 annual contribution of 8,000 ; Russia, the Michael Sars 

 and 10,000. Norway and Sweden each subscribed 

 8,000 for a period of three years, and Denmark about 

 4,000. The programme was the same for each country. 

 It dealt with : 



a. The nature of the bottom. 



6. The nature and degree of abundance of animal life 

 at the bottom, from the point of view of the nourishment 

 it may afford the fish. 



c. The size and weight of the fish taken. 



d. The food of the more usual species ; plankton. 



e. The conditions of sexual maturity and reproduction. 

 /. The temperature at different depths and the action 



of the currents. 



The "Permanent International Council for the Explora- 

 tion of the North Sea," which sits at Copenhagen, has 

 issued a score of large publications containing a host of 

 oceanographical data, especially of the physico-chemical 

 order. The reader who ventures among these enormous 

 columns of figures is liable to gain an impression of 

 chaos. Is all this scientific display indispensable ? I 



