Introduction to the shelf seas - Introduction to the Physical and Biological Oceanography of Shelf Seas - page 6

1.4 A brief history of scientific research of the shelf seas to 1960

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While the scientific study of the deep ocean is generally considered to have started
with the Challenger expedition in 1872-1876, the systematic investigation of the
shallow seas did not develop until some time later. Some important early observa-
tions were made at coasts, notably of the tides which were first accurately recorded
at the port of Brest in 1679. By the late nineteenth century, extensive measurements
with tide gauges at coastal ports had allowed mapping of the tidal characteristics
in many of the world's marginal seas and the development of reliable methods of
tidal prediction (Cartwright, 1999 ). This early success based on measurements in
shelf seas, arguably the first quantitative success of oceanography, was the exception,
as the focus of marine studies was increasingly in deep water. Compared with the
exciting challenge of exploring the vast interior depths of the deep ocean, the study
of the more accessible shelf seas had less appeal. The Challenger expedition was
followed by a number of similar major voyages of discovery by vessels sponsored by
nations that were keen to share in the prestige of deep ocean exploration (Deacon,
1971 ). The shelf seas were largely neglected in these studies, which were much more
concerned with discovering new forms of life in the ocean and less with mapping the
physical environment and determining the processes which controlled it. A notable
exception which did concentrate on the shelf seas was the German-sponsored study
of the North Sea and the Baltic by the S.S. Drache in the period 1881-1884 which
made some of the first large-scale surveys of temperature and salinity distributions
in the summer regime of these regions. Victor Hensen, a German zoologist working
in the North Sea and the NE Atlantic Ocean in the 1880s, is often credited as
founding the discipline of biological oceanography. He recognised the fundamental
importance of the plankton in supporting marine life, and coined the word 'plankton'
(from the Greek 'planktos' meaning to wander or drift) that was formalised by Ernst
Haeckel in 1890 to encompass all drifting organisms.
The burgeoning interest in marine science stimulated by the Challenger and other
deep sea expeditions led to the establishment of a number of coastal marine stations.
Amongst the first of these was Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy, established by the
German zoologist Anton Dohrn in 1873 with support from several European coun-
tries to provide laboratory accommodation for marine scientists. Others included
the Station Biologique Roscoff, France (1872), the Marine Biological Laboratory at
Woods Hole in the United States (1885), and the Marine Biological Association
Laboratory at Plymouth in the UK (1888). Initially, these marine stations were
principally concerned with work in marine biology, but later they contributed to
stimulating developments in other marine disciplines. Some marine stations also
started long-term series of observations of physical variables, such as the remarkable
record of temperature, salinity and nutrients carried out off Port Erin, Isle of Man,
since 1904 (Allen et al., 1998 ).
Early concerns about the possible effects of over-fishing led governments to set up
agencies to promote scientific studies. In the United States, a Fish Commission was