COUNCIL — SEPT. 1910 — APPEND. H — 96 — 



Appendix H 



Proposal of Professor Grimm. 



The distribution of the sea and freshwater fishes of the Baltic is dependent 

 on the quantity of the river water and melting snow. This quantity varies in the 

 different districts with the years and with the seasons of the year; for this reason 

 the distribution of the fishes, appearance of the sea-fishes (sprat and herring) in 

 the neighbourhood of the coast and distance of the freshwater fishes away from 

 the coast, is also different. Thus, for example, the sprat seems to occur in the 

 Gulf of Finland in great quantities after a dry summer and autumn when the ice- 

 cover is well-developed. It seems from this, that higher salinity of the water 

 renders possible a greater distribution of the sprat in the Gulf of Finland during 

 the next-following winter. On the other hand, it happens that even at Reval the 

 sprat is only caught far from the coast. 



In view of these conditions it would seem advantageous to examine into 

 these questions more closely, as may be proposed in the following manner. 



The total rainfall-area of the Baltic (or only of the central and northern 

 parts) should be determined ; then the quantity of the rainfall should be ascertained 

 for each month and each year. On the other hand, a number of coastal stations 

 should be founded, which could make continuous observations on the qualitative 

 and quantitative distribution of the fishes and of the plankton, on the temperature 

 and salinity of the water in the different depths, on the thickness of the ice and 

 snow-covering, etc. 



The above-mentioned investigations might be carried out by each country 

 independently, but greater completeness would be obtained, if all the coastal States 

 took part in the work. 



