The use of SCUBA diving techniques in the study of sublittoral fauna has been shown to be valuable in temperate and tropical waters, and many workers are presently using underwater photography and systematic sampling techniques to gain a more complete picture of plant and animal life in the sea. The use of these techniques in Antarctica in recent years has made possible sampling of previously unexplored areas.

Maritime traffic in ice-congested waters in Canada moves under the control of the Canadian Coast Guard or with its close support, the annual sea supply of Arctic establishments is carried out mainly by merchant ships chartered for the purpose, escorted by icebreakers and assisted by shallow-draft Northern supply vessels and locally based landing barges. A rapidly growing commercial traffic into the Gulf of St Lawrence in winter is provided with routing advice or icebreaker escort on an organized basis worked out in consultation with the commercial interests. These and other related operations have developed in recent years with meteorological and other scientific support provided by various agencies of the Government of Canada.

Prior to World War II, little contact was made with the Eskimo of northern Canada, other than by early explorers, missionaries, Hudson Bay traders and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the war, a new importance was attached to the Canadian Arctic, and it became a strategic area. Men and equipment moved in, airstrips were constructed, large buildings were erected to house the men and machines, and almost overnight the twentieth century had arrived.

The increasing importance of the polar regions, and in particular the increasing use of polar waters by shipping, has led to publication in recent years of a number of ice atlases. These compilations attempt to summarize in cartographic form existing knowledge of the seasonal distribution of floating ice (mainly sea ice, but icebergs also are important in certain areas). The atlases seek to present a summary which is based on the greatest possible number of observations within a given period, and from which deductions may be drawn as to the future. They are therefore not to be confused with ice charts of another sort, which show only actual situations at particular times—although the two sorts may be used to complement each other. A summary of the currently available atlases and their characteristics may be helpful.

Since Brown (1963) wrote his comprehensive review of Antarctic whaling, the course of events has given 1963 some prominence in the history of this remote industry. Most significant was the fifteenth meeting of the International Whaling Commission, held in London in July, which had as one of its most important agenda items consideration of the reports of the special committee of three experts in population dynamics. This committee had been set up in 1960 to investigate Antarctic stocks, to work with the Commission's Scientific Committee, and to advise on conservation.

In Polar Record, Vol 11, No 75,1963, p 735, I. A. Suyetova made calculations of the area of Antarctica and of its major ice shelves based on published and unpublished material available up to 1961. Suyetova's estimate of the area of the ice shelves, excluding attached islands and ice rises, is 1–38 × 106 km2. In a study of the drainage systems of Antarctica (Giovinetto, 1963) the area of the ice shelves as defined above is estimated at (1·63 ± 0·30) × 106 km2. The latter estimate is based, except for the region of the Filchner Ice Shelf, on the more recent chart of Antarctica compiled by the American Geographical Society (1962; 1:3000000). The difference between the estimates of total ice shelf area cannot be explained entirely by the margin of error; there are some differences between the areas estimated for particular ice shelves which are significant: