FISHERIES AND MARINE SERVICE

Translation Series No. 4414

Fish eats fish - Food chains and catches in the North Sea

by G. Hempel

Original title: Fisch frisst Fisch - Nahrungsketten und Fangertrage in der Nordsee

From: Umschau 78: 271-277, 1978

Translated by the Translation Bureau (EK) Multilingual Services Division

Department of the Secretary of State of Canada

Department of the Environment Fisheries and Marine Service

Halifax Laboratory Halifax, N. S.

1978

•

25 pages typescript

• e. ..

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271-277 ISSUE NO.

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9 1978 78

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Gotthilf HEMPEL TITLE IN ENGLISH - TITRE ANGLAIS

Fish eats Fish - Food Chains and Catches in the North Sea

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Fisch frisst Fisch - Nahrungsketten und Fangertrâge in der Nordsee

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NOY 1486952 German E.K. 21 1918

Fish eats Fish - Food Chains and Catches in the North Sea

From: "Umschau", 1978, issue 9, pages 271-277

Author: Gotthilf HEMPEL

Address of author: Prof. Dr. G. Hempel Direktor der Abteilung Fischereibiologie Institut fuer Meereskunde an der Universitàt Kiel Dtisternbrooker Weg 20 D-2300 Kiel FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

[Director, Department of Fishery Biology Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel]

SUMMARY

The total landings of North Sea fisheries drastically increased in the sixties and early seventies. The structure of fishing has changed through the development of commercial fisheries which exploit fish species unwanted before, such as sprat, sand lance and Norway pout. At present, more North Sea fish is used for fish meal than for human consumption. At the same time, productivity of traditionally exploited resources has changed. While the number of herrings has declined, most other fish populations have become more productive due to an increased growth rate of the young, and to an increased reproduction rate. This paper discusses the position of the fishes in the complex food web of the North Sea, and possible effects of the climate on the food supply for fish larvae and older fish. So far, eutrophication and pollution seem to be of minor importance. Predator-prey relationships between species and age groups of fish have been upset by the decrease in herring and mackerel resources. These indirect effects of fisheries on marine ecosystems should be taken into account in the future management of multispecies fisheries.

Marine research/herring/cod/plaice/sand lance/sprats/mackerels/haddock/

whiting/phytoplankton/pollution/spawning grounds/CO 2

um Er): i-F.D TRANSLATION For in forna tior, TRA Dfi:0I9

NON R EVISEE InForen,'

SEC 5-25 (Rev. 6/78)

2

In former times, a rise or a decline in the yields of fisheries were considered a judgement of God: God had decided to reward proper behavior if the yields increased, or to punish a sinful life if they decreased. In the last decade, we have observed the decline of herring fishery and a simultaneous rise in the haddock catches in the North Sea--and nobody can say that herring catchers are more sinful than the luckier haddock catchers. Today, man interferes deeply with the complex ecosystem of the North Sea, and nobody can predict the consequences with even so much as approximate accuracy. The following article is not intended to lend our concern for the future of the biotic communities in the North Sea the appearance of scientific argumentation, which cannot be offered as yet. It rather aims at stimulating environmental research in the North Sea in the hope that we are still in time with a warning based on well-grounded scientific facts.

In the second half of the last century, fisherieshad grown continually;

the market in the prospering industrial regions played an important role:

"Fish and chips" in England or salt herrings in Upper Silesia and in the

region around the Ruhr were at times the most important protein sources

for the industrial population. Transportation of fresh fish into the interior

of the country was made possible by the railroad, and through motorization

large nets could be drawn by ships, and heaved by winches. The fleets became

mobile, fish expanded over the whole North Sea. Consequently, the fish

stocks were quickly reduced, and thus fish became less profitable. To

counteract this development, and to keep the landings and the catches per

day of voyage at a high level, the fishing capacity of ships was increased

by more efficient machinery and other improvements.

But if one now eliminates these improvements mathematically, one

obtains, in the light of the corrected catches per day of voyage, a picture of

the changes in the fish stocks in the southern North Sea from 1885 to 1952

'(Fig. 1): a sharp declineuntil the First World War, then a resurgence of

the fish populations due to the 'closed season' enforced by the war, another

decline in the twenties and thirties, then again a resurgence caused by

the war. However, thereafter the accumulated stocks were rapidly depleted.

3

The development was not uniform for all fish species: natural,

long-term fluctuations in the size of the populations apparently interfered

with the influence of fish

Fish resources and fisheries are subject to change

The haddock, distributed over the whole North Sea in the 19th century,

retreated north. True southern species, especially the sole, decreased

slightly until 1910, but then increased greatly. Only in about the last

15 years have these trends of the northern and southern species became

reversed; the haddock is again advancing south and the sole is retreating.

Typical North Sea animals, such as plaice and codfish, however,

showed few systematic changes until the middle of this century.

In spite of this shift and the increase in fishing intensity, the

total catches of North Sea fisheries remained nearly constant at 1 to 1.5

million tons during the first half of this century, except during wartime.

Subsequently, however, considerable changes took place. In 1952,

Danish and German cutters started to catch fish as raw material for fish

meal in order to promote poultry and pig fattening. At that time, young

herrings served as such fish-meal raw material. From 1965 to 1968, the

Norwegians, with their ringnet fishery, then embarked on herring and mackerel

fishing on a large scale in the northern North Sea reducing the stocks of

both species to approximately one tenth of their original size within

three years. In the southern and central North Sea, the herrings had

made a very noticeable retreat already before that time.

After 1968, commercial fishing, therefore, had to direct

attention to new species: sand lance, sprat, Norway pout. The surprising

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: 'In this paper, "tons" (0 always refers to metric tons.

80000 Icçj

70 000

60 000

50 000

40 000

30 000

20 000-

10 000

1889 94 99

re Sch ,?I)- fische

U)

z

• r • r • 1904 09 14 19 24 29 34 39 46 48

I:91 ;

- -

andere Gadiden Plattfische Fische andere Schollen andere

4

Fip:ure 1: Population density of the North Sea fishes, measured --- as the corrected yield of the voyage of a fictitious

standard steam trawler. (According to Lundbedk.)

(1) haddock

(2) other gadoid fishes

(3) plaice

(4) other flatfishes

(5) other fishes

5

thing now is that simultaneous with the decline of herring and mackerel

fishing, and with the rise of the commercial fishing, the yields of the

traditional bottom-dwelling fishes increased: cod, haddock, whiting and

plaice. The spawn stock of plaice, for instance, have increased fivefold

since 1950 due to improved growth of the young, and to an increased

production of offspring.

These changes have come quite unexpectedly for all biologists, who

now demand a general revision of our concepts concerning the management

of fish resources in the North Sea. From the parallel changes in almost

all the lightly-exploited as well as heavily-exploited populations it can

be deduced that either all species are reacting jointly to a powerful

external stimulus or that they are strongly interdependent so that interferences--

for instance the heavy exploitation of herring and mackerel stocks--have a

drastic effect on other species.

Most animal species, especially the fishes, occupy very different /272

positions in the food web in the course of their lives. Take, for

instance, the codfish of Kiel Bay which when young chiefly feeds on small

crustaceans and clams, i.e. exists on the level of the first carnivores

(level of predacious animals). Later on, it may also eat sprat and herring

which means it has climbed one step higher. It may climb to even higher

carnivore levels by eating small predatory fishes, and it may extract food

from various trophic levels during one meal (Fig. 2).

In the course of their lives, the fishes belong to different

biotic communities, and often the various stages of life are also separated

spatially. Let us look at the herring, for instance (Fig. 3): the eggs lie

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: German city on the Baltic Sea.

6

on the bottom, the larvae float freely in the water; they migrate to the

shallows, and there the young move about in the shallow water until, finally,

the adults, the fully-grown fishes, migrate to the open sea. In the case of

the codfish (Fig. 4), already the eggs are part of the plankton; they float

freely and, like the larvae, are exposed to many predators, including their

own parents.

The position of the fishes in the ecological system must normally

be illustrated as a complex nutrient and energy-flow diagram. The concept

of a linear food chain is not sufficient for this purpose.

The influence of the environment

What kind of influence, then, may environmental changes exert on

the stocks? First, there is the climate which, by way of turbulence and

light supply, affects the phytoplankton, and from there also the zooplankton

and the higher links in the food chain. It is a fact that the climate of the /273

North Atlantic has changed in the last decades. We do not know whether these

changes are cyclic or noncyclic--at any rate, it has been observed since

the late forties that the climate over the arctic and subarctic seas has

become worse. Only since 1970, have we again had milder winters.

The North Sea is situated at the southern edge of these developments;

it does not afford us a uniform picture. But we know the effects of turbulence

on the primary production, on the phytoplankton. The spring "bloom" of

the plankton fluctuates from one year to the next, and was three weeks late

on the average in the sixties.

On this spring bloom of the phytoplankton depends that of the

zooplankton which is the most important food of the fish brood. The

spawning time of the fishes, however, is much more strictly fixed than the

development of the plankton.

0 Phythoplankton' Phytoplankton Organodetritus•

Organodetritus•, Organodetritus

Copepoda

Hering

Dorsch

Diastylis

V

1 ..::

' Gohius .

feSà .1.

Witting

.........-- :-.-...D .

I

Dorsch .

Me .lofaurm

Nephthys

Crandon

Wittling

Dorsch

Diastylis

Dorsch

3 4 5

7 , .

Figure 2: Food chains of varied length which lead from the phytoplankton and the plant and animal waste products (organic detritus) to the codfish. Example: Kiel Bay. (According to Arntz.)

phytoplankton copepods herring codfish

phytoplankton cyprinids codfish

2

organic detritus Diastylis codfish

organic detritus Dias tylis Gobius whiting codfish

organic detritus meiofauna Nephthys Crangon Whiting codfish

0 westliche Nordsee

((:::::.) .....e--'--

î 12 bis 20 cm

s*--------------7. • . /4i.':,-.

Eier

Deutsche Bucht

ElEure_21 The various stages of life of the North Sea herring as linked to various habitats. (The measureniênts in cm refer to the length of the fishes.)

(1) larva

(2) eggs

(3) western North Sea

(4) German Bight (5) shallows

(6) to

3 Jahre/50 cm •

(ID Krusteptiere

4-77--

ering-Sandspierling Ruderfakrebse

/ •

1 1/2 bis 1 t■Acinat/5 mrn 4 bis 5 Monate/4 bis 6 cm '

tie.re

•.•/

Qabben ee eAll SC hein

e

9

Figure 4: The North Sea codfish: the shifting in the thoice of food with increasing age. The adult fishes eat large bottom-dwelling animals as well as fishes from sdhools. (According to Moller-Christensen.)

(1) crustaceans (2) herring - sand lance (3) copepods Jahr(e) year(s) (4) small crustaceans Monat(e) month(s) (5) crustaceans, worms bis - to (6) shrimps, clams

10

Thus, it can happen that the larval stage of some fish species does

not coincide favorably with the development of the plankton.

In this case, good production years are missing. The chances of survival

of the fish brood decis vely determine the production of a good hatch in

a particular year. Due to shiftsin climate and fish stocks, the zooplankton

has also changed, and therewith the food for most young fishes. As compared

with the climate, the influence of pollution is still relatively light

(Fig. 5).

The phosphate load of the Rhine has increased tenfold in the last

two decades.

The situation is similar in other rivers, almost all of which flow

into the shallow southern North Sea. The shallows* serve as a mud trap for

fine organic material. The Dutch shallows alone accommodate approximately

one third of the phosphate carried by the Rhine. Much of it is not effectively

converted into living organic matter, but is stored in the sediment. The

primary production of phytoplankton in the German Bight and in the diatom

layers on the tidal mud-flats has increased greatly. This seems to have

benefited the common mussel more than the fishes. In the open North Sea,

especially in the northern North Sea, this eutrophication still has a minor

effect. Another point, which is relevant especially for Schleswig-Holstein

is the reclamation of land (compare UMSCHAU 1978, issue 6, page 163).

We know that the shallows are the "nursery" of quite a number of fishes. For

the plaice, for instance, the shallows are the decisive factor for the size

of the population. The diking of large tracts of the tidal mud-flats limits

the living-space of the young.

*Wattenmeere

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: **northernmost"Land" ( equivalent to 'province' in Canada) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

o 0 Klima Sc.hmutz

Figure 5: The directions in which the three large variable external factors of climate, eutrophication and fishing exert an influence on fish stodcsandfishing yields. Figures = annual production in million tons. (According to Moller-Christensen.)

(1) climate (2) pollution (3) fishing

11

Overfishing

In the last decades, herring and sole have been overfished. The

fishing of codfish, plaice and haddock is more favorable at the moment,

and for Norway pout, sand lance and sprat exploitation has only just begun.

12

/274

Commercial fishing with clos eshed nets, by the way, destroys large numbers

of young haddocks, herrings and other food fishes.

However, indirect effects of fishing are probably even more important. -

Fishing interferes with the complex predatoIt prey relations. The mackerels

are important predators for fish broods and young fishes; the herring eats

the larvae of codfish and haddock, and the codfish is generally the most

important predator in the North Sea. He keeps the herring, mackerel and

haddock populations small (Fig. 6).

When mackerel and herring ceased to prey on fish broods the opportunistic

species, such as sand lance and sprat.) benefited from it. The haddock,

also, produced more offspring per year (Fig. 7).

The codfish, whose population has increased very much, now eats

approximately half a million tons of young fishes per year.

Results of a Danish mathematical model seem to indicate that we

could further increase the total yields of North Sea fishing by extensive

exploitation of codfish, mackerel and herring, i.e. exactly the opposite

of our normal fishing policy which says that these resources must not be

strained.

But this model is based on data about the food relations which are

as yet inadequate. No fishery biologist, at this early date, dares to

suggest more intensive fishing, at least not to the extent as recommended

by the model.

13

Even if we do not draw any practical conclusions from these model

calculations, it does become clear that fishing interferes with the ecosystem

of the North Sea by influencing the predator-prey relations and--to a lesser

extent--the food competition between the populations. The future management /275

of marine regions must take into account such complex relations, and balance

various forms of exploitation against each other.

Schellfisch Makrele Herihg Kabeliau

><%:1 •:0 Larva ta '<V", \\\:: •

Ei 1;1

Figure 6: Predator-prey relations of four North Sea fishes in the various stages of development: the haddock only collects herring eggs from the bottom; the three other species devour broods in the plankton; mackerel and codfish also eat young fishes.

(1) haddock ' (5) adult

( 2 ) mackerel (6) juvenile

(3) herring (7) larva

(4) codfie (8) egg

t

20001-

10a0 -

total .

/ .St intdor 'sr:.1€

500 Sandaal

Sprott Makrel

100 Hering

Industriefischereien

0 Nordsee

60

20

, . I „ , , ,t, , ,t, , , ,

1950 55 60 65 70 . 1975

14

Figure 7: Commercial fisheries catch the raw material for fish meal and fish oil. At the beginning, their efforts were directed toward the herring, then toward the mackerel. Nowadays, chiefly small fishes are caught which are hardly suitable for direct consumption.

(1) commercial fisheries, North Sea (4) sprat

(2) Norway pout (5) mackerel

(3) sand lance (6) herring •

With the same model, it can be shown that a certain increase in the

phosphate input has practically no effect on the fish stocks. The exchange

with the open North Sea and with the open Atlantic is too large for this.

The model cannot predict the annual climatically induced changes in

the number of offspring which are superimposed on all the changes due to

fishing and pollution. Indeed, it is not possible for anyone to know what

changes will take place naturally in the oceanic circulation, and in the

biological system of the seas at some future time and, much less even, what /276

the consequences will be when the increasing CO2-load of the atmosphere

makes its hot-house effect felt, and warms up the seas in the northern

hemisphere.

The above article is chiefly based on the manuscript of a lecture

delivered on the occasion of the annual meeting of the provincial

board of trustees for Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein at the Founder's

Association of Germain Science on September.14, 1977, in Kiel.

Literature

1. Arri tz, - W.- E.: The ,,upper part" of the benthic

food web: The role of macrobenthos in the

western Baltic. Rapp. Froc. Verb. Raw. CIEM 1

174 (im Druck). 2. Andersen, K. P.; Ursin, E.: A multispecies ex-1

tension to the Beverton and Holt theory of-'

fishing, with accounts of phosphorus circura-

tion and primary production. Meddr. Danm.

• Fisk. og Havunders. N.S. 7(1977), S. 319-435.

3. Cushing, D. H.: Marine Ecology and Fisher- 11

les, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1975. !

4. Hempel, G. — Nordsee — eines der ertrag-

. reichsten Meere der Welt. UMSCHAU 75 , : (1975) S..768.

5. Hempel, G.: Fischerei in marinen pkosyste-1 men. Verh. Disch. Zoo:. Ges. (1977) S. 67-85.

. 6. Hempel, G.: North Se.a lisharies '.and fish ;

. stocks -- a review of redent Changes. Rapp. 1 Proc.-Verb.Rékm. C1EM 174 (1 m Druck)..

7. Lundbeck, J.: Biologisch-statistische Unter- ' suchungen über die deutsche Ilochsaefi scherei. IV. 4. Bar. dl. wiss. Kommn. tvleères-

forsch. 15(1963). S. 153-237. • 1 8. A45Iler-Christensen, J.: Nordseefische. Kos-

1 mos Feldführer. Franckh .sche Veriagshand-

lung, Stuttgart, 1977..

Translation of non-English bibliographic items

(1) (in the press)

(2) North Sea - one of the most productive seas of the world.

(5) Fishing in marine ecosystems.

(6) (in the press)

(7) Biologic-statistical investigations on the German deep-sea fisheries.

(8) North Sea fishes.

15

16

(The following text appears in the shaded sections of the pages carrying

Hempel's article)

Marine research in the Federal Republic of Germany

In the last few months, we have dealt with man's interference with

the ecosystem of the seas and their littoral zones in several articles

(compare UMSCHAU 1978, No. 2, pages 35 and 41, No. 6, page 163). The

utilization of the seas by mining industry and fisheries, as a waterway and

as a military assembly area, forms the background for the new phase of the

International Law of the Sea Conference in Geneva. Protection and utilization

of the seas are within certain limits compatible. For this, intensive

marine research is a prerequisite. On the occasion of the annual convention

of the German Society for the Encouragement of Scientific Research* in 1977,

Gotthilf Hempel, before an audience of politicians and journalists, reviewed

the state of German marine research activities. He made the following

statements, among others:

Marginal conditions of German arme research

Marine research to provide protein and minerals, marine research

for the protection of coasts, for navigation and for the marine environment,

are tasks which an industrial nation cannot ignore. Furthermore, there exists

a legitimate scientific curiosity about the oceans and their inhabitants.

Interest in the seas and in marine research has grown faster in the German

population than it has in the government. But the funds available for marine

research have risen, in particular new research ships for the North Sea and

the Baltic have been put into commission. To reduce the funds and to direct

them toward projects of immediate applicability is especially shortsighted /275

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: *referred to as 'DFG' on the following pages.

/274

17

in marine research, because this is an area where it is only a short step

from newly acquired fundamental knowledge to its practical application.

Labor legislation with its overtime regulations etc. means a

humanization of work at sea, but it reduces the effectiveness of the operation

of research ships. More automation in research equipment, and more sea-going

personnel are required to close these gaps.

The worldwide limitations o the freedom of marine research force

German oceanographers partly to withdraw to the European coastal regions and

to conduct theoretical and experimental work in institutes, and partly

to advance, more than hitherto, into the open ocean and into the Antarctic

region.

Focal points of research.

Marine geoscience has, in the last decade, fundamentally changed our

knowledge of the development of today's configuration of continents and

oceans. German scientists contributed to this; they, for instance, cleared

the way for the deep-sea drilling program of the "Glomar Challenger"

off NW Africa. This kind of research contributes to the understanding of

shifts in marine currents, and to the understanding of the plankton

populations therein which are finally converted into organic sediments. The

history of the climate of the last few million years was pieced together

by studying conventional drilling cores. "Sand movement in coastal areas",

was the name given to a research program of the DFG in which,besides geologists,

also physical oceanographers and hydraulic engineers participated. Changes

in the sediment--this was shown by research in the past year--are probably

not the result of aggregate flow conditions, but of short-lived storms.

Patient long-t measuring on the bottom is required in order to accidentally

capture such an event.

18

Marine biologists, in the last decade, have frequently engaged in

the study of ecological interrelations in the plankton and on the bottom

of shallow parts of the sea. Quantitative statements, however, were mostly

limited to the lowest and highest levels of the food chain, i.e. to the

relation between phytoplankton, microorganisms, and the supply of nutrient

salts and light on the one hand, and the feeding of the fishes on bottom-

dwelling animals and plankton, on the other. Now, more attention is being

paid to the intermediate links, and to the matter of seasonal adjustment of

the cycles of development.

German marine chemistry still suffers from a shortage of personnel;

it has a good reputation with regard to the extreme refinement and automation

of analytical procedures. It has lately become possible to carry out

detailed chemical analyses of heavy metals, sugars and amino acids at

sea parallel with biological observations. This development permits the

study of the "marine ecochemistry" of the organic substances which are

excreted, incorporated, metabolized and broken down by marine organisms.

lrThey act as inhibitors, growt romoting substances or indicators, and are

probably influenced in their effectiveness by industrial substances.

Scientists engaged in physical oceanography have, over the last years,

intensively studied the problems involved in the interactions between the

atmosphere and the surface water masses. Models of the motion of the sea,

and of the internal waves as well as of the water level fluctuations were

calculated, and the correspondingmeasurements were taken at sea, frequently

through the internationally coordinated employment of several research

ships, airplanes and current meters anchored in place. Joint meteorological-

oceanographic programs were carried out at the equator, off NW Africa, in

the North Sea and Baltic, and in the Norwegian Sea. While German marine

19

geologists and biologists work chiefly in the shallows, and at the foot of

the continental slopes, physical oceanographers frequently prefer the upper

500 m of the open ocean to the complicated conditions of the continental

shelves.

Multidisciplinary projects, which bring together physicists, chemists,

geologists and biologists, play a large role in German marine research;

they get the special support of the DFG. The interactions on the sea-floor

(Kiel Bay, Bermuda), the effects of the upwelling of nutrient-rich waters

off northwest Africa, and the development of the plankton bloom in the

northern North Sea were very intensively studied.

Ocean pollution: international conventions and organizations

It is true that the world's oceans, by way of the atmosphere, are

being polluted practically everywhere by anthropogenic products and particularly

by wastes; yet, there are regions of the sea which are exposed to pollution to

an especially great extent namely the areas where sea traffic is concentrated,

and the heavily industrialized coastal regions.

In September, 1977, Hans Walden of the German Hydrographie Institute,

at a convention of the Founder's Association of German Science in Kiel,

presented a survey of international conventions and organizations.

There are, by now, a considerable number of international agreements

which aim at avoiding shipping accidents, and the massive pollution of the

sea caused by them. Reliable navigation, clear acoustical signals and the ,

positioning of navigation lights, regulation of traffic (for instance, the

introduction of "one-way streets" at sea), and last but not least a high

standard of training for naval officers may very well help to avoid accidents

at sea. In addition to that, ships must be built in such a sturdy and safe

/276

20

way that the cargo is not discharged into the sea every time even minor

damage is suffered.

Tables 1 and 2 contain a selection of international organizations

and committees which deal with the pollution of the seas and its dangers.

Governmental organizations are those of which the governments of the respective

countries are official members; also listed are most of the non-governmental

groupings of experts, as a rule marine scientists, the majority of whom

belong to universities or colleges. Some of the committees were founded

through private initiative, or by industrial circles, for instance, the

AEO named at the bottom of Table 1.

The international measures taken to protect the oceans include

scientific symposia, conventions and politically oriented major events,

such as the United Nations Conference in Stockholm in 1972 about the

"Environment of Man" or, before that, the major convention of the World

Food Organization "Pollution of the sea and its effect on animal life and

fisheries" in 1970 in Rome.

Furthermore, the international organizations have set up research

and work programs and, finally, there is also international contact between

scientists on a smaller scale.

If man is to come to the aid of the sea, more action than that

shown so far is urgently required to progress beyond the many starts that

have been made. International science has approached the problem resolutely.

ocean regions

worldwide, at present preferentially Baltic Sea

objectives

scientific information on ocean pollution

scientific knowledge worldwide

scientific knowledge worldwide

pollution prevention worldwide

control, prevention, scientific knowledge

worldwide

evaluation techniques

scientific knowledge

maximum pollution tolerance of the sea

worldwide

Baltic Sea

worldwide

Table 1

Non-governmental international organizations and working groups which deal with the pollution of the sea. (Selection)

21

Name of organization

Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research = SCOR, in the Internat. Council of Scientific Unions = ICSU

Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment - SCOPE in the ICSU.

Internat. Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean = IAPSO in the ICSU

Internat. Association of Medical Oceanography = IAMO in the ICSU

Engineering Committee on Oceanic Resources = ECOR

Conference of Baltic Oceanographers = CB0

International Commission on Radiological Protection = ICPR

International Association for Pollution Control (Washington) = IAPC

Association Européenne chiefly European exchange of information, Oceanique (Monaco) = AEO waters pollution prevention

objective with regard to conservation of the sea

protection of fish and fisheries _

protection of marine organisms and man

scientific knowledge, observation, monitoring

observation, information on pollution

prevention, information on pollution

prevention, information on pollution

worldwide

worldwide

worldwide

eastern part of North Atlantic with minor seas

N-Atlantic western part

North Atlantic region

Table 2

22

Important governmental international organizations and which deal with the pollution of the sea. (Selection)

Name of organization ocean regions

Food and Agriculture worldwide Organization = FAO in UN

World Health Organization worldwide 7, WHO in UN.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic worldwide Commission = IOC in UN

World Meteorological worldwide Organization = WMO in UN

International Atomic Energy worldwide Agency = IAEA in UN

Intergovernmental Maritime worldwide Consultative Organization = IMCO in UN

International Civil Aviation Organization = ICAO in UN

working groups

prevention, information on pollution

United Nations Environment Programme = UNEP in UN

Global Investigation of Pollution in the Marine Environment = GESAMP in UN

Inter-Secretariat Committee on Scientif. Programmes Relating to Oceanography = ICSPRO in UN

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea = ICES

International Commission for Northwest Atlantic Fisheries = ICNAF

Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission = NEAFC

(support of measuring activities)

scientific knowledge

scientific knowledge

scientific knowledge, coordination

protection of fisheries

protection of fisheries

further development of treaty

Baltic Sea

ocean regions

European oceanic regions, Atlantic

European oceanic regions

European oceanic regions

European oceanic regions

objective with regard to conservation of the sea

is ocean disposal possible?

limitation/prevention of pollution

disposal of radioactive wastes in the sea (check possibility)

monitor, prevent pollution

observation, monitoring

European oceanic regions

Atlantic with minor seas

worldwide

protection of inter-national watercourses

scientific knowledge

further development of treaty

eastern North Atlantic, North Sea, Norwegian Sea

further development of treaty

eastern North Atlantic, North Sea, Norwegian Sea

controls

Baltic Sea Helsinki Convention = WGTO

among other things, control, scientific knowledge

Table 2 (continued)

Name of organization

Nuclear Energy Agency = NEA in OECD

Environmental Council EG

European Atomic Energy Community = EURATOM in EG

Coopération Scientifique et Technique = COST

European Space Agency = ESA

Council of Europe

North Atlantic Treaty Organization = NATO

Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties

Oslo-Commission = OC

Interim Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea, Scientific Technical Working Group = STWG

Paris Agreement

23