Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-23
BEST FISHING EVER
FOUND JUST OFF PERU
Humboldt Current on West Coast
of South America Abounds
in Finny Denizens.

II is like reading again or the wonders
that lurk beneath the waves IN Biasco
Ibanez's .'Mare Nostrum" to spend an
hour talking with sun-tanned, hard-hsted
rlear-eved Robert Cushman Murphy
thirty-three years old, curator Tor the
Departmeut of Natural Science of the
BROOKLYN Museum and explorer of note,
who has lust returned from a SIX months
adventure and scientific expedition for the
museum, making Investigations IN the
mysterious Humboldt Current along 500
miles of the Peruvian coast, as well as
fifteen groups OF the Guano Islands.
Going back into this young man $
record one finds that the trip which
he has Just made into these little visited
waters is not the only one of his career.
As long as SIX years ago, when he was
only twenty-seven years old, he explored
different parts of the Antarctic, gong ms
far as the Weddell Sea, and making sur
veys in oceanic zoology In different parts
of the world.
But in his latest sojourn he has found,
he declares, the richest field for research,
and he saws that in the cold waters of the
Humboldt Current off the western coast
of South America, there is a greater abun-
dance of animal, fish and plant life than
in anv other water area IN the world.
He has brought back TO New \ ork fifteen
large cases and bags and boxes filled with
skins and skeletons and drawings, among
which he expects to flrd, after careful
inspection and comparison very many
species of fish and bird and plant that
heretofore neve have been known to exist
The water of the Humboldt Current.
he said. us uniformly cold for l,SOu
miles along the coast, SO that the tempera-
ture at the north end of Peru near the
equator is Just as low as II is IN central
Chile The current is the cause for this
In cold water there is always an abund-
ance of fish. So in this case there is An
astonishing abundance OF fish and other
forms of life
He said that bird life in this region was
more abundant than in any other place IN
the world, and declared he had seen more
beautiful types and species of ocean birds
on his trip than he had ever hoped TO see.
In referring TO the Guano birds, pre-
dicted that the industry growing out OF
their existence in the islands was destined
to become the greatest of any In that
country. He explained the fact that the
Peruvian climate is one of protracted dry
spells by saving that the winds that
come in from the sea were cold when they
arrived. suddenly were transformed tC
warmth by the land, and therefore ex
handed and drew mp all the moisture IN
the vicinity. This. he said, might be little
known, but was the real explanation.
Il investigated ocean temperatures
took soundings. measured current We
locities and investigated fisheries condI
tions he SAID
And here he hesitated a moment anc
added:
What an opportunity for the Unitee
States. at least for those persons here in
terested in the fishery industry A LITTLE
American enterprise and the arrangIn.
for rights to establish organized fisherle
along those coasts down there would vielo
great amounts of money, | am sure. Fist
could be sold to the Peruvlans themselve
and could be exported TO all parts Of th'
world. and. by the way. there is no bette
fish for eating in the ocean than off tn
coast of Peru"
He said that throughout that vas
coast line there was not one organIze'
fishery. And fish are so abundant be
meath the surface that they sctuall.
tumble over one another" he said.
You may have thought when you say
a flock OF 30 or 100 birds flying abou
together on one Of your vacations IN th'
country that YOU were beholdlng some
thing unusual. Not at ALL Listen 10 Mr.
Murphy tell his bird story:
"0ne day / saw and Photographic
100000 birds of the same species IN
single flock In The Guano Islands. 1t wa
difficult 10 see the far edge of them, and
couldn't have walked among them with
out crushing them. They ly over th
waters of the South Pacific, PARTICULAR
off Peru, until they actually darken tn
skies"
Mr. Murphy lauded the Peruvia
government for its care and protectio
OF It's lndrlstrlally important birds, an
said the President Of the country himse
gave him much assistance, lending hir
steam trawlers and launches with whic
10 make his way over the ocean off PER-
He was accompanied only by Peruvia
assistant and chemist, and carried foo
enough TO last year.
did you encounter many storms 6
sea?' he was asked.
''Not one was his reply. "The water
off Peru are the quietest of any place j
the world because Of the steady southerl
winds