A Science on the Scales: The Rise of Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Biology, 1898–1939 (review)

Histories of Canadian fisheries tend towards the elegiac – tales told in sadness or anger of wounded runs of Pacific salmon, or of the once abundant, now nearly extinct, Atlantic cod. The decline of the East Coast fisheries transformed coastal economies and ecosystems, but as Jennifer Hubbard explains, it also implicated fisheries science. For decades Canada supported scientific efforts to understand the fisheries: its biology, prospects, and limits. Canadian biologists achieved international recognition, yet the fisheries still crashed – an outcome that sits awkwardly amidst progressive conventions in the history of science.

Canadian fisheries science has a long history. A nascent scientific community, invoking imperial prestige and economic advantage, petitioned the federal government for support – an effort rewarded in 1898 with a marine biological station, at first mobile, but soon situated at St Andrews, NB. Biologists there pursued an eclectic array of research topics, their status eventually formalized within the new Biological Board of Canada. The evolution of distinctive approaches to fisheries research was punctuated by the arrival in 1914 of the eminent Danish fisheries biologist Johan Hjort to take charge of the Canadian Fisheries Expedition. He pulled Canadian research closer to international standards, introducing both the esoteric (advanced survey strategies), and the mundane (a new method for quick-freezing fish). Subsequent events continued to shape the science and its role in resource conservation. In 1928, a royal commission urged a larger role for science in improving fishing and processing methods. The following decade, the International Passamaquoddy Fisheries Commission, a study of the impact of a proposed tidal power station on fisheries, exemplified the interest of Archibald Huntsman and other biologists in the relations between fish and their environment.

Hubbard's focus is on the Atlantic Biological Station at St Andrews, from its formation to the late 1930s, when leadership in Canadian fisheries science shifted elsewhere. Briefer accounts of the evolution of fisheries science – in general and in Atlantic Canada – as well as of salmon research in British Columbia, provide context. An epilogue recounts the industrialization of the eastern fisheries, its collapse in the early 1990s, and the recriminations ever since.

One theme that emerges is the relation between scientific and practical objectives. At least in the early decades, scientists were often willing to examine the problems of a backwards Maritime fishing industry, like the poor quality of canned fish. Gradually, however, they focused more firmly on scientific questions, viewing not fishers, but their own colleagues, as their natural audience. Paralleling this evolution was the increasing role of professional scientists, displacing university professors on holiday – a shift reflected in the 1938 renaming of the Biological Board as the Fisheries Research Board.

But the scientists were unable to effectively address the central problem of overfishing. For decades, they did not even consider it possible. Thomas Huxley, the prominent British scientist and Darwinism's most energetic advocate, had argued that ocean fisheries were inexhaustible, and many Canadians, including Huntsman, believed him, retarding application of new ideas about fishing then emerging elsewhere. Hubbard presents clearly the facts of this case, while unfortunately exhibiting a preference for evaluation over explanation.

Hubbard's account is detailed and useful. She illuminates aspects of the wider history of Canadian science, including the influence of scientists elsewhere – initially in Scotland, then in Europe and America. Aspects of the evolving role of the federal government are also described, including bureaucratic battles, and scientists' efforts to convince a reluctant Department of Marine and Fisheries to take a part in resource conservation. The numerous photos of places and personalities are well chosen. However, more analysis of past events, and less evaluation by today's standards, would have been welcome. It was also jarring to see Peter Larkin, one of Canada's most prominent fisheries biologists, repeatedly identified as Philip. But while many questions are left unexamined, Hubbard's account lays a valuable foundation. Future work could consider such matters as the formation of professional...