The Montlake Laboratory of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and its biological research, 1931-81

Marine Fisheries Review, Fall, 1988 by Clinton E. Atkinson

In the Beginning

On 22 May 1931, the new laboratory of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries opened on Montlake Boulevard in Seattle. An "Open House" was held just before the actual occupancy of the building. Those present included Henry O'Malley of the Bureau of Fisheries and the International Fisheries Commission; Miller Freeman, editor of the Pacific Fisherman; and U.S. Senator Wesley Jones, author of the Jones Act. No doubt others prominent in fisheries in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska were present also, along with the local staff members of both the Bureau and the International Fisheries Commission, commonly known as the Halibut Commission.

The report of the U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1930 (1931) notes, "The completion of the new laboratory at Seattle provides the much needed facilities for the Pacific coast biological staff of the Bureau as well as for certain of its other personnel and the staff of the International Halibut Commission." In the report for 1931 O'Malley, 1932), there is the succinct statement, "On May 22, 1931, the personnel and equipment of the Stanford field station were transferred to the new Fisheries Biological Laboratory at Seattle, including all of the Bureau's Pacific biological investigations dealing with Pacific coast fishery problems, except shellfish and the cooperative work on California trout."

The actual move did not occur all at once; the period between May and June was the beginning of the summer's work on Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., in Alaska and on the Columbia River, so most of the staff had left or were in the process of leaving for the field. Ed Power, the newly appointed statistical agent for the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, was among the first to move into the building. George Rounsefell and Edwin Dahlgren of the Alaska Herring Investigations were early occupants. Joseph Craig, the new director of the Pacific coast laboratory, was there also, working out problems of space and operating expenses, as well as initiating the one new investigation for Montlake--the study of salmon fisheries on Puget Sound.

The Halibut Commission moved into the Montlake facility in July 1931. At the time, all of the junior staff members were in the field and two of the senior staff were at the University of Washington's Biological Station at Friday Harbor for the summer, leaving Heward Bell in charge of the Seattle office. While the others were away, Bell was given the task of moving the files and belongings of the staff into their new quarters at Montlake. It took months, so the story goes, before the absentees could locate and reorganize their records and personal effects.

The First Decade:

The Depression Years

Even these first years, the Montlake Laboratory was the training ground for a number of future leaders in fisheries research and management. Richard VanCleve, who eventually became Dean of the University of Washington's College of Fisheries, and John Kask, who has served as head of several fishery agencies in the United States and Canada, both attained their advanced degrees at the University of Washington while working for the International Pacific Halibut Commtission at Montlake.

Lauren Donaldson, known throughout the world for his work in the selective breeding of trout, Salmo spp., and salmon, worked part time at Montlake reading salmon scales. He really did not find the job too interesting, but it provided a means of support during his first years at the College of Fisheries in the depths of the depression.

With one exception, the biological research program at Montlake remained the same as when the work was conducted from Stanford University. The one new program, initiated in 1931, concerned a study of the biology of Puget Sound runs of sockeye salmon under the direct supervision of the laboratory director, Joseph Craig. A small, short-term operation, tagging Rogue River steelhead trout, Salmo gairdneri, was started in the winter of 1930-31 and completed the same year.

Continuing programs at the new laboratory consisted of six programs on Alaskan fish: Four dealing with sockeye salmon, one with pink salmon, and one with herring. Specifically, these programs were: 1) Karluck sockeye salmon, O. nerka, under Thomas Barnaby, 2) Chignik sockeye salmon under Harlan Holmes assisted by George Kelez, 3) Copper River sockeye salmon under Seton Thompson assisted by Morris Rafn, 4) Bristol Bay sockeye salmon under T. L. Schulte; 5) Alaska pink salmon, O. gorbuscha, under Frederick Davidson assisted by S. J. Hutchinson; and 6) Alaska herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, under George Rounsefell assisted by Edwin Dahlgren.

Work also continued on a program to obtain information for the Bureau of Fisheries to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers design a new dam on the Columbia River that would offer minimal interference with salmon runs. This program dealt largely with fish-ladder and fish-screen design for various localities. It was under direction of U.B. Gilroy, a civil engineer, with guidance from Shirley Baker, a San Francisco consulting engineer, who had originally headed this program.