Numerous theories exist to explain the mechanism of transport of organic carbon from its site of photosynthetic fixation to the point of its utilisation in the deep ocean. With one exception none has been adequately quantified. A new mechanism is proposed which suggests that the so-called olivegreen cells may contribute up to 35 per cent, of the carbon requirements of the benthic fauna. These conclusions are based on observations of their vertical distribution, the apparent labile nature of these cells and evidence of their presence in the guts of benthic and pelagic fauna.

Brady's (1880) Challenger report mentioned only three species of planktonic ostracods, all halocyprids. At that time only 10 halocyprid species were known and only 14 papers had been written on the group. The major burst of interest came in the twenty years 1890–1909, when first Claus and then G. W. Müller published series of papers describing the majority of the present species. Table 1 shows the wax and wane in the numbers of papers published and the species described by decades since 1849 when Dana described the first species. The table clearly shows the recent upsurge of interest in the group. Many of the papers include only passing mention of planktonic ostracods, and so this review attempts to assemble all these scattered references so that the ecological importance of the group can be appreciated and further research requirements become clearer

The bacterial and chemical bases for the luminescence of a number of marine animals had been demonstrated by the end of the nineteenth century. Since that time a considerable amount has been learned about the chemical reaction systems of some bioluminescent animals and a generalised reaction sequence can be postulated to encompass the various components extracted from the different species.

The factors which determine, at the various biological levels, the intensity and the spectral and spatial distribution of the emitted light are described and discussed in terms of the chemical nature of the reaction systems and the biology of the animals concerned.

Early man's interest in marine organisms was no doubt essentially gastronomic. Ample testimony to his predilection for shellfish exists in prehistoric middens in many parts of the world. From the earliest days of history, however, we find evidence of a more philosophical interest. Aristotle (384–322 b.c.), for example, described more or less accurately about 150 species of fish and other marine organisms (Tizard et al. 1885) and his name is remembered in the ‘Aristotle's lantern', the common name for the masticatory apparatus of the sea urchin.

The growth of knowledge of medusae and hydroids is attributable to the labours, from the beginning of the eighteenth century onwards, of numerous naturalists and zoologists, amateur and professional, to whom we are indebted for studies of the structure, biology and systematics of these animals, and to the many investigations at sea, by geographical and oceanographic expeditions and by fisheries and other institutions, from which we have derived knowledge of the occurrence and distribution of the species in the seas and oceans. The study of invertebrates gained great impetus in the latter part of the eighteenth century and in the nineteenth century with the accumulating observations and material collected, but only gradually were the true affinities and proper classification of the invertebrate groups recognised. The major advances in the systematic study of medusae and hydroids were the recognition of the true relationships between them and of their distinction from other coelenterates and the full understanding of their reproductive and other structures. Knowledge of the rich variety of species and their world distribution has been gained especially by oceanic expeditions and fisheries investigations. The importance of medusae as ‘indicators’ of hydrographic conditions is well recognised.

Much attention has been paid to euphausiids or krill because of their value as indispensable food of baleen whales and commercially important fish both in the North Atlantic and North Pacific and more recently attempts to exploit euphausiids for human consumption were undertaken in the Antarctic, North Pacific and in the Norwegian fjords.

The end of the nineteenth century saw the publication of the first works on plankton of the Norwegian Sea.

In 1886 G. O. Sars wrote about abundant zooplankton in the banks off the Norwegian coast and the rich fauna of the cold waters. In their monographs, Gran (1902) and Damas (1905) also dwelt on plankton of the Norwegian Sea. Gran singled out the groups of plankton characteristic of the Atlantic, mixed and Arctic waters. He believed that the terms of development of plankton depended on the thermal state of the Atlantic Current.

The question as to the existence of life at great depths was still a matter of controversy in the last century. In spite of the fact that the remains of living animals were recovered from several hundreds of metres, many marine biologists hesitated to believe that animal life could exist in deep-sea conditions. In 1841, Sir James Clark Ross, the leader of the British Antarctic Expedition, claimed:‘… and although contrary to the general belief of naturalists, I have no doubt that from however great a depth we may be able to bring the mud and stones of the bed of the ocean, we shall find them teeming with animal life; the extreme pressure at the greatest depth does not appear to affect these creatures; hitherto we have not been able to determine this point beyond a thousand fathoms, but from that depth several shellfish have been brought up with the mud’ (Murray 1895, p. 79). Edward Forbes, naturalist on H.M.S.S. Beacon, for instance, referred to the marine environment in excess of 550 m as the ‘azoic zone’. But the classical deep-sea expeditions in the second half of the nineteenth century, among others the famous voyage of the Challenger, produced overwhelming evidence for a more or less abundant abyssal fauna.

Early investigations into the effects of pressure on marine invertebrates were concerned mainly with determining limits of tolerance to extreme pressures, but within the last 25 years it has gradually emerged that many invertebrates are sensitive to quite small changes in pressure, often less than one atmosphere (1000 mb). The responses of most planktonic animals appear to be of a depth regulatory nature but certain littoral organisms show rhythmic changes in activity in response to cyclical pressure changes of tidal amplitude and frequency. The ecological role of such responses is considered.

The parameters of the pressure sense are known only from behavioural studies and offer little information concerning the process of reception. A possible mechanism of transduction based on the compression of a surface film of gas is described.

The vertical distribution of pelagic decapods has been investigated at six positions, each located approximately at 10° interval of latitude between 11°N and 60°N in the eastern North Atlantic. An account of the day and night depth distribution of four mesopelagic species, Acanthephyra purpurea, A. pelagica, A. sexspinosa and A. acanthitelsonis, and four bathypelagic species, A. prionota, A. curtirostris, A. acutifrons and A. stylorostratis, is presented. The four mesopelagic species have vertical distributions which vary latitudinally in association with geographical gradients in temperature, the mesopelagic zone from about the latitude of 28°N cooling both polewards and equatorwards. It is concluded that environmental temperature is a major factor in controlling the vertical ranges of these species although other physical variables, principally light, must also be involved.

A faunal boundary exists in the region of 18°N, where the North Atlantic species A. purpurea and A.pelagica are replaced by the Central and South Atlantic species A. sexspinosa and A. acanthitelsonis. The nature of the physical boundary is not clear, but it is tentatively proposed that it represents a relatively broad area where the North Atlantic Central Water and South Atlantic Central Water meet.

In his report of the Challenger siphonophores Ernst Haeckel sketches a picture of biological debate and solution calculated to excite historians and philosophers of biology. Here is a distinct zoological issue, Haeckel suggests, to which Darwin's theory of evalution both gives new meaning and offers a solution. Only an evolutionist, Haeckel implies, could see the flaws in previous ideas and wield the powerful tool of embryology to uncover the truth. It sounds as if the siphonophores can provide what has long been wanted, a nice case-study of the impact of Darwinism upon classical zoology, that is, upon comparative anatomy, morphology and classification.

Only a relatively small part of the vast and varied terrain of human experience is mapped in the record we know as history; and over the charted area the paths along which human industries and institutions have developed are not always well marked. Looking back along these paths our view has the advantages and defects of hindsight. Of some of these paths we have only a limited view; some seem to have started from nothing, in the foreground of that terrain, although it is certain that that cannot have been. Other paths we can see clearly, stretching far back, and few so clearly as the fisheries path; this path goes back past Christ on the shores of Galilee, past the pharaohs on the Nile and Chinese sages by their ponds, past Indians on the American north-west coast, Eskimoes in the Arctic, and the Scandinavians, to man in his most primitive condition.

Prototypes of the more important contemporary fishing gear were in common use in Ancient Egypt. These included fish harpoons, hooks, hand and longlines, angling, trolling, cast nets, fish traps and baskets of various types, dip nets, weirs, seine nets (with and without pockets) and beam trawls.

The seine and beam trawl appeared successively in the Old Kingdom (ca 2660–2180 B.C.) and Middle Empire (ca 2180–1640 B.C.), while the iron fish hook with barb, shank and eye or flange dates back to the New Empire (ca 1640–1075 B.C.).

Archaeological material relevant to fishing consists of preserved samples, artifacts, models and papyrus scripts as well as relief illustrations in tombs and temple walls of scenes depicting fishing methods and crafts from various Dynasties.

The importance of fisheries in the economy of Old Egypt is demonstrated by the exportation of fish commodities and the imposition of taxes on fishing rights and in the engagement of a large number of the population in fish industry. Fish processing included drying, salting, pickling, fish cake and fillet; various implements used were discovered.

It is suggested that these basic fishing techniques (methods and gear) spread in time, along various routes, from Egypt to other parts of the world.

Outside Ireland the Royal Dublin Society is perhaps best known for its annual International Horse Show, but it has in its long history contributed to many other aspects of Irish life. The Dublin Society, as it was called up to 1821 when it assumed the title Royal on King George IV becoming its patron, was founded in 1731 for the purpose of ‘improving husbandry, manufactures and other useful arts and sciences’. Since that time the Society has done much to foster an understanding of the relationship of science to industry and one of the Society's important committees is known as the Committee for Science and its Industrial Applications. The Society's original library became the nucleus of the National Library for Ireland, its Botanical Gardens the National Botanical Gardens and, indeed, as one speaker said at a Dublin meeting recently, ‘there were very few scientific or cultural organisations in Ireland which did not owe their origin to the activities of the Society’.

In the middle of the last century many people believed that the living resources of the sea were inexhaustible and that Man by his puny efforts could not influence them to any material extent. At that time fishing was ill-developed. Trawling was limited to the use of the beam trawl, but with the introduction of steam for propulsion of fishing vessels and the hauling of nets, as well as the otter trawl, the intensity of fishing increased to such an extent that many scientists began seriously to doubt the idea of the inexhaustibility of the seas.

This paper is an account of the development of the International Fisheries Commissions. Excluded are the commissions under the aegis of FAO: an earlier group, for example the Indo-Pacific Fisheries Commission, are only advisory, and later ones, like the Atlantic Tuna Commission, have not been in existence for long enough to discern characteristics in their activity. The activities of the Russo-Japanese commissions in the north-west Pacific are also excluded, because their actions do not have great influence on the older commissions or upon the newer ones established in the last five years or so. Although the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea has now only an advisory function in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, during its earlier history before World War II it was always able to act through the Danish Foreign Office. But a much more important point is that the International Council played a historically dominant part in the early development of many of the commissions, except of course those which originated in the north-east Pacific.

The visit of Commander Perry's American fleet in 1853, followed by visits of European oceanographic research vessels, initiated Japanese interest in oceanography. Fortunately, because of a long maritime history and experience, such advanced sciences were speedily and easily absorbed in Japan. The U.S.S. Tuscarora (1874) discovered the Tuscarora Trough in the Japan Trench during her trans-Pacific sounding cruise as a preliminary to laying a submarine cable. During her epoch-making scientific expedition around the world (1872–76) the British Challenger visited Japan in 1875 and surveyed parts of the Inland Sea. This was followed by the Swedish Vega Expedition (1879) which first cruised across the Arctic Ocean to Tokyo, the Russian Vitiaz Expedition (1886–89) in the Japan Sea, etc., and the USA Albatross Expedition (1888–97) in the northern waters and Japan Sea.

The degree of active interest shown by Governments in new sciences or research disciplines is very often related to the extent that these are reckoned to be of economic significance to society or the State. In Norway, nature research obtained ofiicial support, inter alia, on account of the fisheries and the problems with which the fishing industry was faced. Interest in the natural history of deep-sea animals and the development of marine biology as a research discipline goes back not least to these sources. The fluctuations in the major coastal fisheries have played an important part in directing attention to the actual natural resources and to research into the natural factors conditioning development of fishing as a means of livelihood. The fact that it was based for so long and to such a large extent on coastal fishing made this livelihood particularly susceptible to changes in the natural resources. Norwegian fishermen based their activities on the spawning and feeding migrations of the fish to the coastal waters and the fiords.Because of this they lacked the necessary stimulus to develop offshore oceanic fishing in the way some of the other fishing nations did. Coastal fishing demanded relatively modest investment in boats and equipment. The numbers taking part were so great and the individual yield at the same time so small that there was little opportunity to accumulate the sizable surplus which might have promoted development in a capitalist manner based on large, ocean-going vessels. For example, as long as the summer herring or fat herring could be caught in the fiords it was not necessary to go out to sea to meet the herring shoals. The fishermen had neither the capital nor the experience to adapt their operations to oceanic fishing if the herring failed to appear. The fisheries were based to such an excessive degree on the great influxes to the coast of cod and herring thatwhen these failed to materialise, as happened from time to time, the effects were correspondingly serious. It was therefore not surprising that interest in the natural resources appeared early in Norway and that the country in many respects came to be a pioneer in marine biological research.

The dependence of commercial marine species upon the type of bottom topography is well known. This factor has always been taken into consideration in fishing, and adequate knowledge of it has often contributed to the success of fishing operations. Experience shows that fisheries development requires more complete information on bottom topography and sediments, not only for navigational needs (met mainly by the hydrographic service) but also for finding areas rich in fish and other commercial organisms, which are suitable for conducting fishing operations. Without knowledge of the sea-bed topography it is impossible to give a full oceanographic description of a water body, or to understand the characteristic features of the distribution of commercial species and the organisms on which they feed, or to estimate commercial resources correctly and to exploit them systematically.

The main facts about the life history of Atlantic salmon have been known for a surprisingly long time. Neill (1946) gives an account of early writings on this subject which makes it clear that, for over four hundred years, it has been known that salmon breed in fresh-water, that they spend a period there before migrating to the sea and that, once in the sea, they undertake long migrations. These earlier writers tended to underestimate the period of time spent in the sea (e.g. they thought it likely that salmon returned to fresh water in the same year that they migrated to sea) but, otherwise, their knowledge of the life history of salmon was remarkably complete and accurate.