William Francis Thompson and the dawn of marine fisheries research in California

Thompson also began to hire scientific assistants to assist in his investigation of the albacore. Following a pattern that continued throughout his career, he hired talented biologists who subsequently became leading figures in fisheries science (Fig. 5-7). The first biologist hired by Thompson was Elmer Higgins (1892-1977). Other people Thompson hired early in his California tenure included Oscar Elton Sette (1900-1972), a student at Stanford University, who was stationed at San Pedro to collect measurements and other statistics on albacore. Later employees (mostly Stanford University graduates) who also became leaders in fisheries science and administration included Francis Naomi Clark (1894-1987); Harlan Banta Holmes (1898-1975); William Launce Scofield (1886-1966), a younger brother of Norman Scofield, and William Charles Herrington (1903-1989) (Thompson, 1921c, e). (14)

[FIGURES 5-7 OMITTED]

Finding trained technical help was a continuing problem that worried Thompson. Many of his assistants were graduate students (mainly at Stanford University) who would work for some time before returning to school to continue their graduate work. The shortage of these kinds of people caused Thompson to hire undergraduate students, "no graduates being available" (Thompson, 1924b).

Thompson was able to identify those fishery resources most in need of scientific attention. He listed six kinds of commercial marine fishes and invertebrates being studied by his laboratory: albacore; Pacific sardine; California grunion, Leuresthes tenuis; clams (mainly the Pismo clam, Tivela stultorum); Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi; and California halibut, Paralichthys californicus (Thompson, 1924a). The species primarily in need of research, however, was the Pacific sardine (Thompson, 1919b, 1920a).

Based on his experience with the Pacific halibut in British Columbia, Thompson (1924a) emphasized the necessity of conservation, a theme he was to revisit in subsequent years:

   "The general and marked depletion
   of migratory fishes such as the
   salmon, together with that of our
   Pacific coast halibut, and the plain
   overfishing of various species in the
   waters of the North Sea, have been
   real object lessons to fishery men.

      Our program is, because of such
   reasons, based on the necessity of
   conservation and upon the need for
   governmental vigilance to permit
   the free expansion of the fisheries.

      It requires, because of its nature,
   the support of farseeing and unselfish
   men."

About this time, the harvest of the Pacific sardine in California coastal waters was beginning to increase dramatically, from about 27,500 tons (15) in 1916-17 to over 173,000 tons in 1924-25. Although this level of harvest was relatively small compared to later harvest (over 725,000 tons off California in 1936-37), some biologists were becoming fearful of depletion (Radovich, 1982). (16) Thompson turned his attention to this burgeoning resource (Thompson, 1920a; Thompson and Higgins, 1920).