Abstract
MANY stages of the food-cycle in the sea are much better known to-day than a quarter of a century ago. None the less, the synthesis of the scattered pieces of knowledge into a coherent whole and the assessment of the weight to be given to each has scarcely begun. An experiment in marine fish cultivation such as that of Gross, Orr, Marshall and Raymont1 in Loch Craiglin, Argyllshire, during 1942-44, which has attempted this is therefore of outstanding importance and is worthy of a considered and vigorous criticism. The experiment suffered from many shortcomings which this group of able workers are the first to admit. The aim was set very high and the time that could be devoted to the project—mainly week-ends—under the severe stress of war conditions was inadequate. The experiment failed in its primary objective of demonstrating that marine fish cultivation can be made to pay. In the series of papers embodying the results, one senses that this failure—a failure on the heroic scale—has infected the authors with so great a feeling of disappointment that in the end they have not dared to draw from their data even those conclusions that their results would seem to justify.
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References
Proc. Roy. Soc., Edinburgh, 63 (1947). An Experiment in Marine Fish Cultivation. No. 1. Introduction. By Dr. F. Gross. 1s. No. 2. Some Physical and Chemical Conditions in a Fertilized Sea-Loch (Loch Craiglin, Argyll) by Dr. A. P. Orr. 3s. No. 3. The Plankton of a Fertilized Loch. By Dr. S. M. Marshall. 2s. 2d. No. 4. The Bottom Fauna and the Food of Flatfishes in a Fertilized Sea-Loch (Loch Craiglin). By J. E. G. Raymont. 3s. 8d. No. 5. Fish Growth in a Fertilized Sea-Loch (Loch Craiglin). By Dr. F. Gross. 7s. 8d. See also Nature, 153, 483 (1944); 158, 187 (1946).
Cooper, L. H. N., J. Mar. Biol. Assoc., 27, 326 (1948).
Buch, K., "Der Borsäuregehalt des Meerwassers und seine Bedeutung bei der Berechnung des Kohlensäuresystems im Meerwasser". Cons. perm. int. pour l‘explor. de la mer, Rapp. et Proc.-verb., 85, 71 (1933).
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COOPER, L., STEVEN, G. An Experiment in Marine Fish Cultivation. Nature 161, 631–633 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161631a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161631a0
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