THE AGE OF FISHES 183 



following years covers many countries on both sides of the 

 Atlantic and is associated with the names of many famous 

 scientists. The fisheries of the North Sea and neighboring 

 waters were the ultimate objectives of much of the research 

 carried out at the German stations of Kiel and Helgoland, the 

 British laboratories at Aberdeen and Millport in Scotland, 

 and at Port Erin, Hull, and Lowestoft, and a number of impor- 

 tant stations on the shores of France, Denmark, and the Scan- 

 dinavian countries, such as those of Roscoff, Oslo, Bergen, 

 Borno, Copenhagen, and elsewhere. It was at Copenhagen in 

 1899 that the efforts of these countries and the disinterested 

 internationalism of scientists resulted in the organization of 

 the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 

 devoted to the co-operation of European nations in marine 

 research and particularly in the conservation of fishery re- 

 sources. 



It was not long before laboratories began to be established 

 on the opposite side of the Atlantic and even in midocean, for 

 a Bermuda station began operation in 1906. Today the prin- 

 cipal eastern North American institutions for marine biologi- 

 cal research extend from the research station of the Fisheries 

 Research Board of Canada at St. Johns, Newfoundland, to the 

 Marine Laboratory at the University of Miami, strategically 

 located at the roots of the Gulf Stream. One of the most im- 

 portant is the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Mas- 

 sachusetts, but there are many state and Federal fishery labo- 

 ratories along the coast as well as university summer stations, 

 museums, and other marine institutes which are steadily add- 

 ing to our store of knowledge. 



Less than a century ago life in the Ocean River was still a 

 great unknown to biologists, just as 400 years before that the 

 course and extent of its currents was a dark mystery to naviga- 

 tors. At first the scientists attached to the pioneer expeditions 

 and laboratories were mainly occupied with discovering what 



