https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.8083

ICES Marine Science Symposia, 215: 8-11. 2002 An ICES Statutory Meeting in the late 1950s

J. Møller Christensen

Møller Christensen, J. 2002. An ICES Statutory Meeting in the late 1950s. - ICES Marine Science Symposia, 215: 8-11.

Yellow leaves on the trees in the park surrounding Miss Else Hedegaard, who was in charge of personnel Charlottenlund Castle, just north of Copenhagen, indi­ and finances, took me to the General Secretary, Dr Arni cated the beginning of autumn. I was looking out the Fridriksson, known in the Castle as "the General". He window in front of my work place in the northwestern looked at me over the top of his glasses and said, "Can corner of the building. From here, 1 had a good view of you show slides?" 1 assured him that I was an expert in the path leading from the railway station, through the that field and kept silent about the fact that I had never park, to the beach. Every summer day it brought an operated one of these machines. So, based on a false attractive stream of lightly dressed young women by my statement about my qualifications, I had my very first window, but now it was autumn, and a complete lack of employment with the ICES Secretariat. My task was to such kinds of distraction made it easier for me to con­ install slide projectors in a number of meeting rooms centrate on the microscope. and show slides when required. For this, I would receive Stopping for a while my endless counting of herring a tax-free salary of 150 Danish kroner. keel scales, I once more looked out the window. A group This meant that I would now be able to follow the of about 20 elderly men were approaching the Castle. meetings in a number of committees, listen to the scien­ They walked two by two, all engaged in serious discus­ tists. and be brought up to date on fisheries and marine sions. Judging from their distinguished appearances and science at a very early stage of my career. And, as the their engagement in their conversations, there was no icing on the cake, I would be allowed to participate in doubt in my mind that these were men of great impor­ the party at the end of the Statutory Meeting. tance. When looking at their gesticulations and attire, it Even if there have been great changes in the structure was quite obvious that they were of a different nationality. of ICES over the last four or five decades, things were It was in the late 1950s. I was then a student of biol­ not so different from the present state as one might have ogy at the University of Copenhagen and had just thought. The Secretariat, the Bureau, the Delegates were acquired a part-time job in the herring department of the there, and the committees - even if they had different Danish Institute for Fisheries and Marine Research, names, reflecting different groupings of subjects and which, at that time, shared the Castle with the ICES areas. But there were fewer participants and papers, less Secretariat. than one third of the present numbers. Advisory com­ What i experienced that morning was my very first mittees did not exist, as we know them today. The whole meeting - although only visual - with the Delegates of structure for the provision of internationally produced the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. advice was still missing. Yet, the first meetings of the They were some of the leading men of a profession I new Liaison Committee had taken place, and a few was about to enter. I was witnessing the beginning of an working groups with fish stock assessment elements ICES Statutory Meeting, which would bring around 150 had emerged. marine scientists of different nationalities to Charlotten- The Secretariat was situated on the first floor in lund Castle. Only a few days earlier, I learned about this the southern wing of the Castle, sharing Riddersalen, a coming event, when the Castle had been transformed large stately room, with the Danish Institute. A few from working laboratories to meeting rooms, a process rooms on the top floor served as offices for the hydro- in which I had been involved, as it was performed by graphic and statistical personnel. Three secretaries and students and other low-level personnel. the printer produced papers for the meeting in a way that My superior had informed me that my rank as a part- would have given modern computer freaks a nervous time working student would not permit me to attend any breakdown. Typed or handwritten manuscripts were sent of the committee meetings. However, since this was an to the Secretariat by scientists in the Member Countries. extraordinary chance to make the acquaintance of All the manuscripts were retyped on stencils, proof­ marine scientists from other countries, and since I could read, and mimeographed. The pages of each paper were always use some extra money, I approached the ICES then placed in numerical order on the large table Secretariat and asked if I could be of any assistance dur­ in Riddersalen. Here four or five Secretariat staff ing the conference. members walked around the table to collect the pages An ICES Statutory Meeting in the late 1950s 9

Figure 1. Participants at a meeting of the Herring Committee’s North Sea Herring Working Group held at the Institut fur Seefischerei in Hamburg. Federal Republic of Germany. 30 April-5 May 1962. Front row (1-r): Charles Gilis (Belgium). Renate Hollnagel (Fed. Rep. Germany). Tony Burd (England), Alan Saville (Scotland). Knud Peter Andersen (Denmark). Hans Höglund (Sweden), Irmgard Kreuzfeld (Fed. Rep. Germany), Eva Bohl (Fed. Rep. Germany). David Cushing (England). Back row (1-r): Ole Johan Østvedt (Norway), Gotthilf Hempel (Fed. Rep. Germany), Kristian Popp Madsen (Denmark), Klaas Postuma (The Netherlands), Claude Nédelèc (France). Basil Parrish (Scotland), Kurt Schubert (Fed. Rep. Germany), Gerhard Krefft (Fed. Rep. Germany), Albrecht Schumacher (Fed. Rep. Germany).

for each of the 150 required copies - which were truly of herring in the North Sea was decreasing. What were handmade. the prospects for the fishery? Would echo surveys pro­ I had to move from one meeting to another. This left vide the answer? More information was needed about me with a mosaic of impressions of the participants and the distribution of stocks and about spawning and their discussions. At that time, I only knew the names of recruitment! Those were some of the topics of the meeting. a few scientists from my very limited reading of scien­ The busy, pipe-smoking Chairman, Basil Parrish, at tific articles. However, as years went by, I came to know the end of the table, was leading the discussion. A most many of those present at that Statutory Meeting and British-looking gentleman, David Cushing, was draw­ some became my close friends. Therefore, looking back ing on the blackboard preparing for his next argument. today, I see some of the actors, who performed at the From the side-line, Jenne Zijlstra, Popp Madsen, and meeting, in a more solid perspective than when I first Tony Burd gave comments. Later on, when other her­ met them. ring stocks came up for discussion, Hans Höglund and The Herring Committee, which met in Riddersalen, Finn Devoid argued on the question of the historic ori­ was one of the most prominent committees. I was there gin of the Atlanto-Scandian herring. Ole Johan Østvedt one morning when lively discussions took place on the tried to intervene, but was interrupted by Alan Saville, Herring Tagging Experiment at Bløden Ground in the who waved his pipe, thus spreading the sweet smell of North Sea, the first of the large international tagging the Latakia tobacco he used to smoke. The discussions experiments coordinated by ICES. The fishery for juve­ ended with a very clear statement from Jakob nile herring was increasing, and the most southern stock Jakobsson. I have forgotten what he said, but I remem- 10 J. Møller Christensen ber that he underlined it by hammering his fist on the assistance, which made me feel very much at ease in table. At that time, seen in retrospect, most of these peo­ these new surroundings of international scientists. ple looked quite young. Many of these individuals are Other meetings which I attended left only a few tracks included in a group photo (Figure 1 ) taken several years in my memory. In the ANACAT (Anadromous and later (1962) at a meeting of the Committee’s North Sea Catadromous Fish) Committee, I learned that salmon is Herring Working Group held in Hamburg. indeed an important fish. The Committee discussed tag­ Halfway through the meeting, Gotthilf Hempel ar­ ging experiments. I noticed Professor Nikolsky, because rived and immediately put an obvious question to one of he was a good deal more than two metres tall, and the latest speakers. I remember that it was the very same Arthur Went, because he was talking most of the time question I would have asked - had I dared. The answer and telling a few jokes, which I have completely forgot­ proved that the question was most relevant. That day, I ten, probably because he continued this way over the learned to ask simple questions, an ability which has next 25 years. It was not until many years later that I been of great value to me ever since. also learned to appreciate other qualities of these two That morning, the members of the Herring Commit­ gentlemen. tee were unaware of the enormous problems lying ahead In the Hydrographical Committee, the main topics of them when serious collapses of several stocks during were the International Geophysical Year, deepwater cir­ the next two decades would drastically increase the culation, multi-ship measurements, and Polar Front sur­ responsibilities and workloads of the ICES scientists. veys. John Steele, John Carruthers, Frede Hermann, and In 1953, the Permanent Commission of the 1946 Arthur Lee discussed the Iceland-Faroe Ridge overflow North Sea Convention, later replaced by NEAFC project. At the Secretariat level, the main issue was (1964), formally requested ICES for advice on the state punch cards for data handling. of cod, haddock, and plaice stocks in northern waters. The hydrographers were special. I didn't notice that at This request resulted in work on assessments of changes the time, but for many years I had the impression that in mesh sizes and led to the establishment of the ICES they deliberately kept themselves separate from the Liaison Committee (replaced by the Advisory Commit­ biologists. Perhaps this stemmed from the fact that at tee on Fishery Management in 1977). In 1956, a joint each Statutory Meeting they had a party, in which non­ meeting of FAO, ICNAF, and ICES was held in Lisbon, hydrographic persons were not allowed to participate. with three main items on the agenda, viz.: gear selectiv­ Rumours said that consumption of alcohol at these par­ ity, fishing effort measurement, and effects of fishery. ties was excessive, which could be confirmed by the Cyril Lucas, Ray Beverton, and Basil Parrish represent­ count of empty bottles outside Riddersalen the follow­ ed ICES at the meeting. They returned with a strong ing morning, but which was regarded with sympathy, as case for more ICES activities in these fields. The first the main substance in the life and work of these people assessment groups were formed, and the first compre­ was water. hensive report was presented to the Commission by the In the North Sea Committee, headed by Professor Liaison Committee, which also had new members, such Korringa, sole and whiting were the principal issues. A as Beverton, Luit Boerema, Gunnar Sætersdal, Dietrich working group was established to plan an international Sahrhage, and Parrish, co-opted in order to strengthen sole-tagging experiment in the North Sea. In the Skag­ the assessment aspects of the work. These events took errak and northern Kattegat, large catches of whiting, place in 1957-1959. which were used for production of fishmeal, caused po­ In the Comparative Fishing Committee, much atten­ litical problems which required advice from the biolo­ tion was given to the provision of data for the regulation gists. In the Shellfish Committee, chaired by Dr H. A. of fisheries by minimum mesh size and minimum land­ Cole, Nephrops and M ytilicola were on the agenda. ing size. Techniques for such assessments were avail­ The small Baltic—Belt Seas Committee had papers on able, but much basic information and data were lacking. the environmental influence on the stocks of commer­ The Committee, therefore, was concerned with issues cial fish. The catches of cod had increased continuously relating to mesh measurement, selectivity, comparative over the last few decades and had now reached a level of fishing with research vessels, and fishing gear, and also about 150 thousand tonnes a year. Looking at the seri­ coordinated data collection and problems related to ous expressions on the faces of the Chairman, Professor comparative measurements. The Chairman of the Com­ W. Cieglewicz, and the Committee members, who rec­ mittee, Ray Beverton, led the discussions, summing up ommended strict protective measures, it was quite obvi­ and suggesting new activities in a most energetic, ele­ ous that the biologists had started to worry. However, of gant, clear, and logical way. He was kind of a tutor to these scientists, none would have guessed that some 25 the Committee, and also to other committees where he years later the ever-increasing Baltic cod catches would appeared and enthusiastically engaged himself in the reach a level of half a million tonnes before starting a discussions. steep decline. When the meeting ended in the Comparative Fishing I noticed that the same persons were attending meet­ Committee and I was collecting the few slides I had ings in several committees. It was quite obvious that been showing, Ray came over and thanked me for my there was broad interest across areas and subjects, and An ICES Statutory Meeting in the late 1950s 11

many of the participants seemed to know each other event, the singing, drinking, and dancing could not take very well. In these few days, I sensed an atmosphere of place until everybody had listened to a lecture of a more enthusiasm spreading all over the Castle. From the first intellectually valuable character. Therefore, Professor floor to the coffee room in the basement, the air was Korringa entertained the guests at great length with a thick with smoke and voices. Scientists from many dif­ commented slide show on his recent visit to Moscow. ferent nations, deeply engaged in their research, were After this performance, the real party started. All the intensely discussing a variety of issues. hard chairs were removed, and an old record player was Two of the committees had a majority of French- brought into Riddersalen. The dance music was mainly speaking members. My knowledge of that language English waltz and foxtrot. I can still hear the sound of wasn’t good enough to allow me to follow these meet­ feet being dragged over the floor. In the various small ings closely. Furthermore, it did not improve the situa­ rooms in other parts of the Castle, groups of participants tion that the meetings were held in the winter garden assembled in singing and drinking sessions. late in the afternoon where a low sun overheated the Miss Eva Christiansen (among friends called room and almost put the slide operator to sleep. The "Auntie"), who worked in the Secretariat on the prepa­ Sardine Committee was chaired by Dr Lozano Cabo ration of the Bulletin Statistique, came and sat down from Malaga, whom I later met in his capacity as co­ next to me. She complained about the arrangements opted member to the Liaison Committee, where he with the following comments: always presented a bottle of very good Malaga wine. Dr This is not at all the kind of party we had in the Vilela from Lisbon chaired the Scombriform Fish Com­ twenties when Maurice was President. At that time, mittee. It had tuna, but also fluctuations in the North Sea we always had the Statutory Meeting parties at mackerel stocks, on its agenda. Restaurant Wivex - the most fashionable restaurant in After the closing of the meetings late in the afternoon, Copenhagen during the first half of the century. We the President, Dr J. Furnestin, and the group of French had a large band playing, everybody wore evening experts walked toward the sea, in the opposite direction dress, and the President personally presented a long­ from everybody else. While the majority of the partici­ stemmed rose to each of the ladies on their arrival. pants were staying in Copenhagen, and quite a few at the Those were the days, my friend! very cheap Missions Hotel, the French delegation al­ ways stayed at the very fashionable, seaside Bellevue Jørgen Møller Christensen: Skovbovej 19, 2800 Lyngby, Hotel, north of Charlottenlund, where Karen Blixen oc­ Denmark; tel and fax: +45 45 88 59 26, e-mail: casionally stayed in the late 1950s just before she died. [email protected]. Former Director o f the Danish The last day of the scientific meetings ended with a Institute for Fisheries and Marine Research (1973— party for the participants, their accompanying wives, 1994), former Danish Delegate to ICES (1973-1994) and the staff of the ICES Secretariat, supplemented by and Vice-President (1975-1978, 1991-1994), and first Danish Institute female staff. Since this was a serious Statistician (1969-1972) in the ICES Secretariat.