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

Marine Fisheries Review, Spring, 2001 by J. Richard Dunn

In the second paper published in this volume, Thompson reviewed the difficult sampling problems inherent in data collection on sardines. He discussed the concept of "dominance" and the understanding of the catch, the significance, interpretation, and use of the mode, as well as the problem of statistical errors and the difficulties of sampling. Thompson noted the numerous uncertainties surrounding the sampling of the sardine catch. He acknowledged the need to "weight" each sample by the amount of the commercial catch it represented. Thompson felt that the time for, and knowledge of, such weighting had not yet arrived (Thompson, 1926b).

In the same volume, Sette presented the results of his studies of problems in sampling the sardine. He suggested that sampling the commercial catch twice a week was necessary to obtain a portrait of the year's catch (Sette, 1926). Higgins described the fluctuations in the sardine fishery at San Pedro. He noted the marked changes in sardine catches from year to year and he described the length variability of the samples. He found that there may be extended periods in which spawning is relatively unsuccessful. Higgins also found a good correlation between the sizes of sardines captured with the numbers of fish packed in oval tins. Such a correlation offered a method of estimating the catch during the fishing season (Higgins, 1926). William Scofield (1926) described the progression of size classes of sardines in Monterey and the fluctuations in abundance within and between years; he too found a correlation between the length composition of sardines and the numbers of fish packed in oval tins.

The Development of Thompson's Philosophy of Fisheries Research

During his California days, Thompson was developing his own philosophy about marine fisheries research, and he saw the need to disseminate his thoughts to a general audience. His previous experience in British Columbia had taught him the benefits of communication with the fisherman and the processor. He published several general articles describing the work conducted by the state fisheries laboratory and the value of fishery research (Thompson, 1919a; 1920a,b; 1921a; 1924a). Reaching out to a wider audience became a Thompson trademark throughout his professional career. (22)

Thompson's philosophy of "pragmatic applied research" was elucidated in some of his publications (Thompson, 1919b; 1921d; 1922b; 1924a).

   "That the primary purpose of the
   investigations of the California
   Fish and Game Commission are
   conservation and adequate utilization
   has been stated many times.
   But such purposes have been repeatedly
   avowed by investigators,
   whose programs when adopted
   have betrayed a primary interest
   in natural history, and have shown
   little relationship to the problems
   to be solved. The scientific program
   of the Commission has, however,
   been planned very specifically
   to meet the problems which
   are involved in government control
   of the fisheries, and are adapted
   to meet the responsibilities of the
   state as legal guardian of those
   natural resources" (Thompson,
   1920b).