A Station in History \\- Commemorating the 75Th Anni , ~ Versary of the Pacifie Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C
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UN DER Volume XI Number Six September 1983 A station in history \\- Commemorating the 75th anni , ~ versary of the Pacifie Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C. -1 :1- n 1 1 1 1 1 Dl ID Slowly, slowly, through the century It's easy to forget, in this age of future N eedless to say, I obliged him with two minutes shock, ac::celerated change and exponential of silence to complete his calculations. growth, that science, from the scientist's point "I've sometimes said," he later of view, moves with an imperceptibility hypothesized in an interview, "that if it hadn't rivalling that of the hour hand on a dock. Out been for the Station's work, there would be next of necessity, research is painstakingly slow, to no fishery anymore. But that's in the meticulously detailed and precise. In fisheries extreme case." research, where the field of study occupies two History tells us that extremes are not thirds of the earth and is only slightly more uncommon to fisheries. The North Sea herring, hospitable than outer space, 7 5 years of studies the California pilchard and the Atlantic salmon have merely unfurled the sails on a are just a f ew of the species which once transoceanic voyage. supported thri ving fisheries, but they've faded "Science moves but slowly, slowly, as quickly as they f lourished. F ortunately, creeping from point to point," Lord Tennyson examples on this coast a re not so severe, but wrote over a century ago, yet his words are still we've had our ups and downs with salmon and true. herring fisheries. Fisheries management is When I first met Dr. Bill Ricker, whom crisis management, the managers say, because many consider to be among the foremost the seasons don't wait for decisions to be made. f isheries scientists in the world, he was pouring In sharp contrast to the hectic pace of over a stream of figures, calculator in hand, in fisheries management headquarters in his cramped basement office at the Pacifie Vancouver, where an aura of impermanence Biological Station. Dr. Ricker retired from prevails, the Pacif ic Biological Station is active government service over ten years ago, testimony to the passage of time, the three but he still works at the Station two or three main buildings each representing a distinct era times a week to continue his research specialty, in fisheries research. The structure of 1949 is population dynamics. It seemed the perf ect built, figuratively, and almost literally, upon setting in which to f ind someone such as Dr. the foundations of the original 1908 facility. Ricker. While he has devoted a lifetime to The basic observat ions of 1958 may become the moving us doser to an understanding of building blocks for the broadest conclusions of humanity's least understood resource, he 1998. There is only one season here, always continues the tedious task of his research with bearing fruit. With the results mounting, crisis the enthusiasm of a much younger mind. will gradually give way to control. SOUNDER Mike Youds Editor N ewsletter of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacifie Region. Contents Slowly, slowly, through the century ••• 2 Editors: Maxine Glover A station in history •• •• •••••••••••• •• 3 Mike Youds Past, present and future ••••••••• ••••• 7 Future prospects for 6th floor fisheries manageTent •••••••• •• • •••••• 10 1090 West Pender Street Research: basic or applied? •••• •••••• 12 Vancouver, B.C. "The Chi ld" that changes an ocean ••••• 13 V6E 2P 1 Lake enrichTent: hidden benefits ••••• 14 Phone: 68 7-1442 At the river'smouth • ••••••••••••• •••• 17 Service supports blosscrning industry •• 18 Sounder is printed eight times a year for the PBS: an outsider's viewpoint •• •••• ••• 19 Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Opinions Carpiling the past for the future ••••• 19 expressed in the Sounder do not necessarily Fishers of fish ••••••••••••••••••••••• 20 reflect policies of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. No articles may be reprinted Editors' note: publication of the without the editors' permission. regular Sounder will resume in November. Thi s special issue was produced for the Government of Canada public open house at PBS, as well as for 1+ Fisheries and Oceans the staff of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans , Pacifie Region. 2 A station in history A short history of the Pacifie Bioloqical Station, 1908-1983 In 1907, after several years of impassioned pleas from industry, from members of Parliament, from academic circles and learned societies, the Government of Canada approved the spending of $15,000 for the establishment and maintenance of marine biological stations and investigations. As has become the rule throughout the succeeding years, the Pacifie Coast received somewhat less than half. Yet, it was a start and enough to commence construction, on the shores of Departure Bay, of a building that could house and accommodate eight researchers. The Reverend George Taylor, who had been so instrumental in starting the project, oversaw the construction and became the Station's first curator. With The Pacifie Biological Station, 1934. f ew other resources, the Reverend Taylor placed his own persona! library at the disposa! new institution in the heart of an established of the Station, thus laying the cornerstone for herring fisnery. what was to become one of the fin est scientific The_ register of work maintained from 1908 libraries devoted to fisheries research on the to l 916 reads like a Who's Who of ear ly North whole Pacifie Coast. American fishery science. David Starr Jordan, ln those early days, there was no staff. whose name is used in science for identifying, Researchers appeared drawn to the location among others, the local shrimp and petrale sole, from all over the Dominion and from as far worked there, as did W.F. Thomson and Harry afield as England and the eastern United Dunlop, stalwarts of the Halibut Commission in States. They came from schools and later years. A.G. Huntsman, whose name universities, other laboratories and museums. adorns the Huntsman Laboratory, was there, as The area was fertile, unknown and ready for the was A.T. Cameron, later chairman of the attentions of the naturalist, the taxonomie Fisheries Research Board. There was also specialist and the descriptive biologist. Y et, recorded the name of McLean Fraser, soon to while much of the work of those early years become curator of the Station, Willey of was calm and unhurried, more of the academic McGill, Collip of the insulin discovery team and than of the fishery, it is instructive to many, many more. remember that one of the major reasons for Work continued throughout the years of the choosing N anaimo as the site was to place the Great War. When accommodations could not be stretched any further, investigators and their families lived in tents surrounding the Station, Caver illustration · and it remained a volunteer community. This voluntary concept has been of immense Illustrated in this historical importance to the Pacifie Biological Station collage, are: the founding director of the throughout its whole history, even to the Pacifie Biological Station, Reverend George present day. If their research is of importance Taylor; Mrs. Edith Berkley, who with her to the region, and their demands for space and husband, Cyril Berkley, was an active facilities are modest, volunteers may be volunteer researcher at the Station for over assured of a warm and enthusiastic welcome. t+O years; a Ross Grant Improved Microscope The ghost of Taylor lives on. (from the private collection of Gary Hoskins, No history of the Pacif ic Biological Station Diagnostic Services), used on scientific could be considered complete without an expeditions to the Yukon at the turn of the · account of the most remarkable of all these century; the original main building, built in · volunteers, Edith and Cyril Berkley. The 1908 and removed in the l 9t+Os; the Berkleys appeared in 1917, and two years la ter commemorative pin, prepared by Al Denbigh, for the Station's diamond anniversary. continued on page four 3 Victoria in 1968, Cyril Berkley died at the age of 94 in 1973. The tradition remains, for their granddaughter and her husband both spend many summers at PBS as volunteer investigators themselves. One of the earliest contributions that science made to an understanding of a fishery problem was the discovery by McLean Fraser, the second curator of the Station, of the four-year cycle in Fraser River sockeye stocks. This had enormous impact when the Hells Gate slide effectively blocked the dominant run of 1913. Even though the passage was cleared by 1915, the 1917 catch was predictably a disaster. This collapse triggered efforts to The Hells Gate slide as it appeared in restore the damaged runs and to aid this 1914, a year after the fateful incident endeavor, one of the first U.S. - Canada occurred. cooperative tagging projects was initiated. (It is too much a temptation not to ref lect continued from page three on present concerns. We are once again tagging purchased a residence close by the Station. salmon in cooperation with the Americans, and Cyril, between developing a world-class garden, the CNR is considering blasting in the Fraser and producing hybrid rhododendrons, served as Canyon again.) assistant curator of the Station in 1920 and After the war, activity increased, and the 1921 and then bec a me a volunteer investiga tor emphasis was on the practical side. R.E. along with Edith. Foerster, working at Cultus and Harrison Lakes, Between 1923 and 1962, they produced investigated the food. and enemies of young over forty primary publications, discovered salmon. As interest grew, the need for a many new species and charmed all by their full-time director became more and more dedication, wit and hospitality.