The Journey to PICES: scientific cooperation in the North Pacific

Abstract

This book is a significant contribution to the history of international marine scientific organizations. It looks in-depth at the process of creating the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES). It seems obvious enough that such an organization was needed—the best way for the Pacific Rim nations to gain knowledge about the enormous North Pacific Ocean is through cooperative research—yet PICES was two decades in birth. The reasons for this lengthy incubation become obvious to the reader through the author's masterful tracing and interpretation of events. Fisheries regulation was scrupulously avoided, and governments balked. The process required aggressive promotion, incredible patience, and dogged perseverance; these eventually led to PICES, a vibrant six-nation international marine organization, contributing substantially to marine science. (204pp.)