Accordingly, marine and coastal research in these countries was driven by the perspectives of remote decision-makers who relied on reports rather than direct local engagement. Importantly, however, a number of developments which took place during this period are the foundation for some of the institutional capacity currently existing in the region. Whilst early expeditions focused mainly on the collection of biological specimens and plankton, the study of biological and chemical processes, inventories of marine life and resources, particularly fisheries, and recording of basic oceanographic processes, the later IIOE encompassed almost all marine science disciplines, except perhaps fishery research and marine microbiology (Rao and Griffiths 1998). The IIOE contributed a wealth of knowledge on many aspects of the WIO including the discovery of the mid-Indian Ocean ridges (including the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge) the famous triple junction south of the Seychelles, where the southern end of the Carlsberg Ridge meets the Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge (Rao and Griffiths 1998), the effects of the monsoons on the Somali Current, and upwelling off the Somalia coast.