188 



Two hundred fifty-four (254) specialists have been approved by the seven 

 Advisory Conunittees and/or by principal investigators to receive biological and 

 geological material processed at SOSC. Of these, 139 receive benthic and mid- 

 water-trawl invertebrates; 64 (50 duplicates) receive plankton groups; 80 (6 

 duplicates) receive fishes; 14 receive algae; and 3, other plant groups; and 10 

 receive geological specimens. These authorized recipients include specialists from 

 the United States and from 26 foreign countries : Argentina, Australia, Austria, 

 Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba (displaced), Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, 

 Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Malgache, Netherlands, New 

 Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sweden, U.S.S.R., and West 

 Africa. 



Inherent in the type of service provided by SOSC is the requirement for 

 accumulation and dissemination of data. The objectives of SOSC are to improve 

 manpower usage by freeing sorting technicians from records-keeping chores and 

 to provide more accurate, complete, and eflScient services to scientists. Improve- 

 ments have included the use of a card-filing system and/or statistical master 

 lists to maintain a station-by-station report of sorting progress. Sorting sheets 

 have been designed to allow rapid enumeration of data, to call attention to 

 organisms likely to be encountered in samples, and to indicate relationships be- 

 tween taxa as an aid to association of group characteristics. In view of the vast 

 and growing volume of data at SOSC, it has become evident that these objectives 

 can be met only by instituting Automatic Data Processing (ADP) along with 

 improved manual procedures. 



With the technical advice and assistance of specialists in systems analysis, an 

 ADP system has been designed and modified to suit SOSC's specific requirements. 

 Upon initiation of this system, sorting data will be readily correlated by machine 

 with Reduced Data Sheets of sampling and environmental information obtained 

 from collectors' field logs. Standard reports will be programmed for rapid loca- 

 tion of data on specific parameters— for example, the determination of areas in 

 which given taxa have been present. These reports also will include information 

 on the present location of specimens either at SOSC or at other institutions for 

 identification and study. 



SOSC has found it necessary to train its sorters. Initially, training in general 

 sorting techniques and specimen identification is provided by the daily super- 

 vision of more experienced technicians and specialists. Training tools available 

 in each section include desk reference textbooks, atlases compiled with specimen 

 descriptions and illustrations, photograph and slide files of infrequently seen 

 specimens, and such devices as the Nikon Comparator available in the Plankton 

 Section which provides a TV-screen-size blow-up of specimens conveniently view- 

 able by a large group simultaneously. More specialized training has been made 

 available by the initiation of a program of twice-weekly lectures on specific 

 recognition and identification of taxa. When interest and initiative are demon- 

 strated, an employee is encouraged to further his formal education as a com- 

 plement to the daily instruction he receives. 



During the past four and a half years a total of 138 persons have been 

 gainfully employed at the Sorting Center. Of these almost 80 have received 

 training as technicians, many of them taken from the Department of Labor 

 unemployed lists. Nearly all of those who are former employees have gone 

 on to better paying permanent positions after a period at the Sorting Center. 

 In the future we hope to employ training personnel, thus engaging in training 

 as a formal part of the operations. 



The Mediterranean Marine Sorting Center (MMSC) began operations Novem- 

 ber 2, 1966, in an ofiice and two laboratories of the Institut National d'Oceano- 

 graphie et de Peche, in Salammbo. Tunisia. Tunisia was chosen primarily for 

 its location in the central Mediterranean and because of the enthusiasm of the 

 scientists and Government of Tunisia to cooperate with the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution in this project. The Institut is situated on the Gulf of Tunis, 12 km 

 north of Tunis, at the traditional site of the ancient and important seaport 

 of Carthage. 



The first Director of the Mediterranean Center is Mr. David M. Damkaer 

 who is on the regular staff of the Smithsonian Institution, and who normally 

 serves as Supervisor for Plankton at the Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting 

 Center. A professional scientist will be recruited, from Tunisia whenever 

 possible, to supervise each section. Five technicians from Tunisia are cur- 

 rently employed by MMSC. All of these have had university studies in biology ; 



