COMMITTEE B — DECEMBER 1903 (029%) 
He would now put before the meeting a resolution on the subject dis- 
cussed : 
Committee B, after considering and discussing the question of fixed stations 
at which seasonal observations and experiments may be made by the various 
states concerned in the international cooperation, hereby resolves that it is 
highly desirable that such investigations should be carried out by all the 
States represented on Committee B and that measures should be taken to 
begin these investigations as early in 1904 as possible. The first investiga- 
tions in each year should be so timed as to cover the spawning period of the 
chief food-fishes, more especially the plaice. 
The resolution was carried unanimously, with the understanding that the 
lines and stations were to be fixed definitely at the next meeting in February. 
(4) Dr. Horx said the next point was to consider the question of uniform gear, 
i. e., trawls with the same opening, weight of ground rope, and size of meshes. 
Mr. GARSTANG proposed that the experiments on the fixed grounds should 
include investigations with trawls of uniform pattern, so that a sufficient number 
of the investigations of different countries would be comparable inter se. Other 
factors undoubtedly influenced the catch of a trawl, but the use of a standard 
trawl would, at any rate, reduce the sources of error to a minimum. 
Dr. Hemere said that, judging from the comparative trials between the 
“Huxley” and other vessels, the commercial trawls used were practically identical. 
He thought trawls with identical meshes were not needed; but as all commercial 
boats used almost the same pattern of trawl, it would be best to use that trawl. 
It would answer almost equally well to put a scientific man on board ordinary 
fishing vessels to take observations and statistics. Although the Danes were using 
a small trawl, he was of opinion that if they carried out experiments with it on 
the fixed stations four times yearly the results would be perfectly comparable both 
with other commercial trawls and with the trawls of the participating countries. 
Since the number of hauls made by the scientific vessels must always be small in 
comparison with those of commercial trawlers, they could merely serve as a means 
of understanding correctly the catches of commercial vessels and the statistics respec- 
ting them. 
Dr. PETERSEN was of the same opinion and thought that the trawl to be 
used was not of the greatest importance; but the actual fishing experiment. They 
