Notes

Abstract

A CONFERENCE of delegates representing the Mediterranean nations is about to meet at Madrid to organise an international scheme of fishery investigations and to set up a central office for the co-ordination of the results and their publication in French, Spanish, Italian, and English. Four exploring ships are to be at the. disposal of the office—the Hirondelle II. belonging to the Prince of Monaco, a specially built Italian ship, and two other vessels provided by France and Spain. In the meantime, while the fujl scheme is being elaborated, the Italian Government is beginning investigations in the Dardanelles. In the main, the object of the researches will be the development of the sea-fishing industries, and the results primarily sought will relate to the life-histories of edible fishes. Hydrographic work will also be carried out. Several big expeditions have made investigations of this nature in the past, but there is still much to be discovered, and sustained research is, of course, imperative in the study of variability of the productivity of the fisheries.