British Marine Science and Meteorology: The history of their development and application to marine fishing problems Buckland Occasional Papers: No. 2 Contents Page FOREWORD Frank Buckland and the Buckland Foundation. Geoffrey Burgess .....................................................................................................7 British marine science and its development in relation to fisheries problems 1860-1939: The organisational background in England and Wales. Arthur J. Lee .......................................................................................................... Fisheries research at Port Erin and Liverpool University. Trevor A. Norton ....................................................................................................47 The Marine Biological Association and fishery research, 1884-1924: scientific and political conflicts that changed the course of marine research in the United Kingdom. A. J. Southward ......................................................................................................61 British whaling and whale research. Ray Gambell ..........................................................................................................81 The Scottish contribution to marine and fisheries research with particular reference to fisheries research during the period 1882-1939 J. A. Adams ............................................................................................................97 Some 19th century research on weather and fisheries: the work of the Scottish Meteorological Society. Margaret Deacon ..................................................................................................117 Fish utilisation. John Early ............................................................................................................ On the foundation of ICES: a look behind the scenes at the events in Britain. Jens Smed .............................................................................................................4 The Reverend W. S. Green: a pioneer in fisheries research and development. Christopher Moriarty............................................................................................55 Speakers at the November 1989 meeting: Back row (from left to right): Ray Gambell, Roger Bailey, Trevor Norton, Arthur Lee, Geoffrey Burgess. Front row: John Gulland, Alan Southward, David Garrod, Jimmy Adams, John Early. 4 FOREWORD The first eight of the papers in this book were given at a meeting held in November 1989 that was sponsored by the Buckland Foundation in conjunction with the Challenger Society for Marine Science and the Royal Meteorological Society. Since then the texts by Jens Smed and Dr Christopher Moriarty have appeared and were added because they complement the theme so well and Arthur Lee’s book on the History of Fisheries Research in England and Wales has been published. Furthermore since 1989 there have been great changes in the structure of the Natural Environment Research Council which have affected the the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (pages 61-80), UK government-sponsored research on marine mammals has been largely redirected away from the great whales and more towards the small cetaceans and seals of local domestic interest – a major been change from the heyday of the Discovery Investigations (pages 81-95) – and there has been much discussion of the future structure of government-sponsored fisheries research per se. To date the most significant result of this has been the decision to close the Torry Research Station (pages133- 140) during 1996 with its work being redistributed between various institutions in Aberdeen and the Central Science Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF). In short the discussions and debates of the formative years continue with, it has to be said, more or less the same problems at issue. Finally it is appropriate to note that the plaster casts of fish made by Frank Buckland referred to at various times in Geoffrey Burgess’ paper were re-discovered three years ago at the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther. The bust of Frank Buckland paid for by public subscription is also there. The Buckland Foundation is hoping to set up permanent exhibits to Frank Buckland at the Anstruther Museum and the National Fisheries Heritage Centre in Grimsby. Alasdair McIntyre Chairman The Buckland Foundation February 1996 4 5 6 FRANK BUCKLAND AND THE BUCKLAND FOUNDATION Geoffrey Burgess 6 7 Plate . A formal portrait of Frank Buckland. Plate 2. Frank Buckland in working clothes circa 1875. He is holding an oyster breeding tile and an oyster shell. 8 FRANK BUCKLAND AND THE BUCKLAND FOUNDATION Geoffrey Burgess Frank Buckland was a well-known Victorian naturalist and entertaining author with an engaging manner and an original and humane outlook on the world (Plates 1 and 2). In many respects his views were surprisingly modern and he did not, for example, enjoy killing wild life for sport: “All I beg on behalf of the wild birds” he once wrote, “is not to shoot them; leave the gun at home and take the opera glasses and watch their habits” (1). His active period spanned less than twenty years, from the early 1860s to his death in 1880 at the age of 54, but in this relatively short time he established a national reputation and enjoyed the sort of following nowadays associated with television personalities or pop stars. People would flock to hear him lecture. A specially chartered train once took 400 of them from London to Brighton to hear him talk about the aquarium and its inhabitants(2). His popularity and importance can be judged by the fact that after his death, a large and influential committee was formed “ ... to perpetuate by a substantial memorial the services which he has rendered to the study of natural history and fish culture ... ”(3) . This committee included the Dukes of Beaufort and St Albans, the Marquis of Bute and was later joined by HRH Prince Christian. Buckland’s memory lingered on and ten years after his death it was reported in a letter to The Times that the last of his pets, a rhesus monkey called ‘Tiny the Second’, was still alive but feeble, whilst his grey parrot with exceptional conversational powers had recently fallen off its perch and expired (4). Some of his most popular works were reprinted in this century and a selection even appeared in 1948. Buckland maintained a prodigious output and probably worked a regular 14-hour day, except on Sundays, and it is therefore not surprising that his writings sometimes show signs of haste. Nevertheless, the best of them deserve to be better known than they are today. His style was original, informative, entertaining and direct, full of interesting and detailed observations about animals, but never condescending or embroidered with the saccharine phrases and poetic quotations which make so many Victorian popular natural history books difficult to read. His style has often been emulated but never surpassed. He has an even greater claim to be remembered however, for his contribution to fisheries research and administration. He developed his own fisheries museum in South Kensington which was, in effect, a forerunner of the Science Museum, he was appointed Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for England and Wales in 1867, and he sat on at least seven official committees of enquiry of Royal Commissions, all concerned with particular aspects of the fisheries, between 1871 and his death. He never let slip any opportunity to make his countrymen aware of the importance of the fisheries and their problems. In his will he left his Museum to the nation and set aside a sum of money for the eventual establishment of a Professorship of Economic Fish Culture; this latter scheme has been administered from the outset by the Buckland Foundation which was set up by the High Court for this purpose. This account is not primarily a biography of Buckland; that has been attempted elsewhere by the present author and also by Bompas (2, 5). It tries to set out the main formative factors in his life which help to explain some of his attitudes and actions, to show his influence on the development of fisheries science and administration, and to review the history of his legacy, namely the Buckland Foundation, to the present generation. 8 9 The task is not entirely straightforward because his activities were so widespread and only some of them have direct relevance to the fisheries. For the last thirteen years of his life he did three main, regular jobs. He edited the natural history columns of Land and Water, a weekly journal he helped to found, he attended his museum in South Kensington and spent much time collecting and preparing specimens for it, and he fulfilled his duties as Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for England and Wales. In addition he served from time to time on various official enquiries and maintained an enormous correspondence with landowners and others on problems ranging from fish hatching to river pollution, from the humane treatment of pigs at market to the need to teach natural history to children. All manner of people would ask his advice: at the request of the Queen, Prince Christian wrote for help because “There is a plague of frogs at Frogmore ...” (2). Buckland himself did not distinguish between his various activities. Some of his letters to correspondents in Land and Water were written on official notepaper from the Salmon Inspectors’ office, whilst others concerned with official business were written privately from