The aim of the international cooperation for the study of the sea is: to pre- introduction 



■* • • r • 1 • "'"^ of the inter- 



pare for a rational exploitation of the sea on a scientific basis^ national study of 



the sea 



Since the time, when the International Conncil for the study of the sea was 

 formally constituted and held its first meeting on the as'"* of July 1902 at Copen- 

 hagen 2, a comprehensive study of the hydrographical conditions, biology of the 

 food-fishes and plankton of the northern seas, has been begun in the interests of 

 the fisheries and of fisheries legislation, under the direction of the International 

 Council and the Bureau in Copenhagen, by the various national committees of 

 the nine participating states, namely: 



Belgium — Denmark — Germany 



England and Scotland — Finland — Holland 



Norway — Russia — Sweden. 



The principal endeavours of this study, which strives to arrive at practical 



ends by common international work along scientific lines, are: 

 I. The investigation of the hydrographical conditions obtaining in the North 

 Sea, Norwegian Sea, Barents Sea, White Sea, as well as in the English Channel 

 and Baltic, and the connection of these conditions with the circulation of the 

 ■waters in the ocean. 

 II. The study of the biological conditions of the animal and plant worlds in these 

 seas, with special regard to the food, the reproduction, growth, and the 

 distribution and migrations of the different food-fishes. 



III. The solution of the problem, how far the deep-sea fishery as a commercial 

 industry stands in general on a rational basis; whether the quantities and the 

 consumption of fish, taken from the seas mentioned, are in a proper proportion 

 to the production occurring under the prevailing natural conditions, and whether 

 any disproportion between production and consumption arises from a general 

 or local overfishing, or from an injudicious employment of the fishing apparatus 

 at present in use. 



1 Résolutions textuelles de la Conférence internationale pour l'exploration de la nier, réunie :\ Stock- 

 holm 1S99, p. 1. 



2 Procès Verbal de la réunion du Conseil permanent international pour l'exploration de la mer. 

 Copenhague, Juillet 1902. Rapports et Procès- Verljaux des réunions. Vol. I. p. i — 37. 



Principal 

 ■ndeuvoursoflhe 

 investigations 



