DANISH EXPEDITION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 18 July 1928, Page 5

DANISH EXPEDITION.

PROBING THE OCEAN’S SECRETS. LIFE HISTORY OF THE EEL. New Zealand will be visited towards the end of the year by the Danish State scientine ship Dana, in the course of a cruise of the Pacific, with a view to increasing the world’s knowledge ot oceanogiaphy and marine organisms and fishes. The expedition will be in charge of Professor John Schmidt, director of the Carlsberg Laboratory, Copenhagen, and will be equipped as fully as any ever 'undertaken. The objects of the expedition are partly explained by the personnel ot the start. The. scientific members are as loliow: Dr. J. Jesperson, zoo,ogv, Plankton; A. F. Bruun, zoology; Dr. N. C. Andersen, surgeon, zoology; H. Thomsen, Hydrography; E. Nielsen, ootany, plankton; Dr. T. H. Mortensen, zoology, bottom fauna (perhaps only in the waters round New Caledonia); C. Bangsboll, first lieutenant, hydrography, deep sea soundings (echo ;.sounclinga) ; O. Ities, second lieutenant-, hv drog rapiiy, navigational chemist it possible. While Professor Schmidt is interested in every form of research to lie covered by „the course, he is particularly enthusiastic in regard to discoveries proving the distribution and spawning grounds of eels. Eels are considered a prime delicacy in Denmark, where the local supply is inadequate to meet the public demand, and it is natural that this source of food, so neglected in New Zealand, should engross the attention of the Danish expedition. Professor Schmidt’s work in connection with this particular subject has already resulted in discoveries tha t are most important to marine students everywhere. He is recognised as the world s authority on the subject of the migration and distribution of eels, ahd lias been carrying on correspondence with the New Zealand Marine Department for a considerable period regarding the distribution of the two species of eels known in New Zealand.

The party expects to arrive from Fiji or Tonga about November, leaving again for New Caledonia or Sydney. Wellington will definitely be a. port of call, though Auckland may be first touched at. It is hoped that something more definite will be ascertained of the spawning grounds of the swordfish. There are indications that the swordfish caught in the Bay of Islands have only recently spawned, and that their spawning grounds are therefore not far away.

Though the Danish State visit is purely scientific, in view of the demand there and elsewhere for eels as food it may lead to some systematic form of eel fishery lor export for the first time in New Zealand.