taken with this end in view, In order, however, that they may attain their 

 object at all, it is necessary that they should be based upon a solid scientific 

 foundation, and upon international agreement. No better or more expeditious 

 manner of so doing could be found than by means of international investiga- 

 tions carried out according to a plan laid down by mutual agreement. Only 

 thus was it possible to avoid any doubt as to the correctness of the methods, 

 the exactitude of the execution, and thus the reliability of the grounds upon 

 which the proposals were based. 



This then was one of the chief arguments in favour of the institution 

 of the International Investigation of the Sea, and, as we shall see, the orga- 

 nisation has in this respect sufficiently justified its existence. True, excellent 

 and most careful investigations had already been carried out in the regions 

 in question by scientists in various countries, and a considerable amount of 

 preliminary material was already at hand; it was thus unnecessary, in most 

 departments of the work, to discover new methods of investigation, requiring 

 the invention of new instruments. The principal point was, that the investi- 

 gations of the co-operating countries should be carried out conformably to an 

 agreed method, thus supporting and completing one another. It would in 

 this way be possible to deal with the whole of the area under consideration 

 at the same time and in a systematic manner. By this method of proceeding 

 not only could the work be carried forward far more rapidly than had been 

 the case as long as investigations could only be carried out by a single man, 

 or by a single group of scientists belonging to one country; but also, the re- 

 sults obtained could be regarded as common property obtained by means of 

 international co-operation, the value and reliability of which was patent to 

 each member of the organisation, and also to the governments of the co- 

 operating countries. 



As with the question of over-fishing, so also with the solution of other 

 problems, much was expected of the success of the common work. Such a 

 problem was, for instance, the question of the migrations of several species of 

 fish, which the fishery has to take into account, and the laws of which it was 

 therefore desirable to know as accurately as possible. In the occurrence of 

 these migrating fish on certain coasts or certain fishing grounds irregularities 

 take place, which are the cause of considerable inconvenience and loss to the 

 fishermen, who preferably reckon with certain defined seasons for the capture 

 of certain fish. The cod on the coast of Norway, the herring on the coast 

 of Sweden (Bohuslän), the mackerel in American waters, the sardine off the 

 coast of France, and in a lesser degree also the anchovy in the coastal waters 

 of Holland (Zuyder Zee) have so often and so disastrously disappointed the 

 fishermen, that any information as to the cause of these irregularities which 



