The Third Session, held in Austria in April 1964, was attended by delegates from fifteen of the eighteen countries which by then had become members of the Commission. Those countries represented were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia. (No delegates were present from Greece, Israel or Norway.) In addition, observers attended from IAL, ICES, GFCM and OECD.
The Session devoted a considerable amount of time to the question of financial support, particularly for working groups, expert meetings and technical symposia, which were not at that time activities required by the Commission. The delegates finally passed Resolution 64/1 which was to play a major part in the subsequent development of EIFAC, and which stated, inter alia, that
“when the Commission creates a Sub-Commission or a working group or a special committee for a specific purpose, the Director-General should so inform the Governments which the officers nominated to the Sub-Commission or working groups serve, requesting at the same time that the said officer or officers be facilitated in so serving for such time as may be needed and that their necessary expenses be defrayed by the Governments concerned to the extent that such expenses cannot be defrayed by FAO.”
This resolution followed an address by Mr T.E. Ritchie, then Assistant to the Assistant Director-General, Technical Department of FAO, in which he indicated that FAO recognized that the Commission could make more rapid progress through the investment of additional resources. This would enable additional meetings to be held; and work through such meetings and other means would, in turn, progress more rapidly. FAO pledged itself to do everything possible, within the strict limitations of the means available, to provide the necessary support for EIFAC, and hoped that Member Governments would meet governmental costs connected with the Commission as the needs arose.
Mr Ritchie indicated various avenues of approach which should be considered in planning the future activities of the Commission. These were that:
subsequent meetings of the Commission would be at two-year intervals;
if selected subjects required concentrated attention from the Commission or a group comparable to a “Committee of the whole”, ad hoc meetings of the Commission should be considered;
alternatively, selected items could be referred to a smaller group designated by the Commission or to a Working Party and the necessary meetings convened, the costs of delegated being borne by participating governments;
the Commission could request to the Director-General of FAO that FAO convene special meetings of selected experts or panels or conduct symposia on limited subjects;
Member Governments could select special areas of investigation and deliberation and volunteer to meet the costs of consultants, meetings or publications as necessary;
the Commission could itself select items for specific attention and identify individual scientists in the service of Member Governments who were best prepared to produce papers or studies, and the Commission could suggest or request that the governments make the indicated contributions;
the possibility could be explored of seeking aid and support throughout Europe from government or non-government bodies such as travel organizations, hotel and tourist agencies, chemical and manufacturing industries, hydro-electric organizations or others with a direct or indirect interest in inland fisheries and the issues identified.
The Commission decided to accept these proposals as a basis for future operations, and one consequence of this decision was that three Sub-Commissions were established in conformity with Rule IX (Subsidiary Bodies) of the Rules of Procedure. These Sub-Commissions, which have continued in their original form to the present time, had the following spheres of operation:
| Sub-Commission I | Fisheries Biology and Management |
| Sub-Commission II | Fish Culture and Disease |
| Sub-Commission III | Fish and Polluted Water |
Each Sub-Commission consisted of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman and a Rapporteur, designated by the Commission and their names presented to their respective governments for approval.
Since the formation of the three Sub-Commissions the activities of EIFAC, both in the biennial sessions and during the inter-sessional periods, have increased considerably through the formation of working parties, the holding of ad hoc meetings and special symposia, and in some instances practical collaborative exercises to evaluate field techniques. Publications have been produced by working groups and following special meetings, these publications being approved by the Sub-Commissions and by the Commission at the plenary meetings before being issued by FAO on behalf of EIFAC.
In addition, the Secretariat has been responsible for a number of reports more conveniently prepared by them or a consultant, on behalf of the Commission. At the Third Session, a revised directory, “A List of Inland Fishery Workers in Europe”, was presented. This included the names of 541 individuals who had provided information on their interests and expertise in inland fisheries or allied fields. A revised “Directory of Inland Fisheries Schools and Training Courses”, and a revised version of a “Provisional Review of the Status of Inland Fisheries in Europe” were also presented at the Session.
Since 1964, regular sessions of the Commission have been held every two years, the Sessions normally opening with a plenary meeting of all delegates and observers. Following this, the three Sub-Commissions engage in their own discussions usually through working groups. Each Sub-Commission prepares its report to the Commission with appropriate recommendations for future work and inter-sessional activities, and these reports are discussed and approved where necessary at a final plenary meeting.
It has also been found convenient to hold one or two symposia during a sessional meeting, these being open to all who wish to attend. Papers are invited from individuals with experience on the subject under discussion, and these are reviewed at a series of panels into which the symposium is divided. Papers are not presented individually, but the contents of all papers relevant to a particular topic are examined and used by the appropriate panel chairman in his presentation of the subject. The system enables the discussion to be restricted to the time available, irrespective of the number of papers submitted, but has the disadvantage that treatment of individual papers may be minimal or even superficial, with consequent dissatisfaction for the author. Most papers are however usually published in a symposium volume, and the panel chairman also contribute review papers on their panel topic.
