Dr. Oscar Elton Sette

Dr. Oscar Elton Sette was a pioneer in the development of fisheries oceanography and according to many fisheries scientists, is the father of modern fisheries oceanography in the U.S. He is recognized both nationally and internationally for many significant contributions to marine fisheries research. He formulated the concept that the "changing ocean" rather than "average ocean conditions" plays key roles in the natural fluctuations of fish stocks and their vulnerability to harvesting. He originated the importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, including the interrelationships between fisheries, oceanography, and meteorology, to understanding and solving marine fisheries problems. He published fundamental scientific papers demonstrating the connections of trophodynamics (including nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, tuna forage organisms, and tunas), ocean currents, and tradewind meteorology to explain the distribution and relative abundance of tuna stocks in the equatorial Pacific.

Dr. Sette spent his entire professional career of about four decades in Federal service with fisheries agencies that eventually became NOAA Fisheries. He served in many capacities both at headquarters and in the field and did research in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. He was the founding director of what is now the NMFS Honolulu Laboratory. As director of the Honolulu Laboratory he assembled an outstanding staff of scientists to carry out his scientific vision that led to the development of U.S tropical tuna and related pelagic fisheries in the central and western Pacific. Late in his career he also founded a specialized Federal fisheries research laboratory at Stanford University, where he put together a multidisciplinary group of marine scientists including experts in fisheries, physical oceanography, and meteorology to investigate the roles of climate change and El Nino in fisheries.

In addition to conducting and directing fisheries research, Elton, who preferred to be called by his middle name, was also instrumental and influential in formulating national policies for fisheries research and management followed by in the U.S. in the days before the formation of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service. He also played major roles in planning and establishing, as well as providing notable scientific leadership and guidance for, the Pacific Ocean Fisheries Investigations (POFI) which investigated tuna and other pelagic resources in the central and western Pacific, the California Cooperative Fisheries Investigation (CalCOFI) which initially emphasized the California sardine and later other coastal pelagic fishes in the California Current, the international EASTROPAC program concerning tuna resources in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, and the international NORPAC program pertaining to salmon resources in the North Pacific. Elton, along with Don McKernon, Wib Chapman and other marine policy and tuna industry leaders, also played an important part in the formation of the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission. Among his other accomplishments and contributions to marine science, Elton was one of the founders of the Eastern Pacific Oceanic Conference (EPOC), an organization that continues today, more than 50 years later, where all disciplines of marine scientists are welcome to come together informally to present new research findings, new ideas for marine research, and forge relationships for cooperative research projects and programs.

Dr. Sette was a gifted oral and written communicator. He possessed the wonderful ability to explain complex ideas, concepts, and scientific findings in a pragmatic, concise, straightforward, understandable, and clear manner.

Although he was a man with big ideas and many strengths and capabilities to implement them, Elton was a relatively small-built man who spoke softly. He was also a gentle man and a gentleman. He had incredibly high standards and was a patient listener. Whatever Elton sought out to do, he did so with vigor, dedication, and determination. Yet, he was notably inclusive, rather than exclusive, and was a firm believer of the power of teamwork to accomplish goals. In memory of Dr. Sette, who passed away in the mid-1980s, the American Fisheries Society makes an annual award for outstanding contributions to marine fisheries science.