Seven Decades of Science in Support of Natural Resource Conservation
The WFRC originated in 1934 as the Seattle Laboratory of the
Fish Hatchery Disease Service of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries.
The institution first received national notoriety in 1939, when
a Newsweek article described Dr.
Frederick F. Fish (the first Director) and his "fish hospital."
In 1950, the institution was renamed the Western Fish Disease
Laboratory, and the parent agency had evolved into the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. For the next two decades, the laboratory
developed a national and international reputation for excellence
in fish disease research, primarily serving hatchery managers.
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Dr.
Robert R. Rucker, Center Director from 1950 to 1973. |
In the 1970s, conservation legislation broadened the Center's mission,
and it became the National Fishery Research Center. Field stations were
added in Alaska, in Nevada, on the Columbia River, and in upper Puget
Sound. As conservation emphasis broadened beyond hatcheries, Center
capabilities evolved to encompass fish health in general (viral and
bacterial diseases, stress, and epizootiology) molecular genetics, and
fish ecology. These fields of research have now become highly relevant
to adaptive management of populations and ecosystems.
In 1993, Congress established the National Biological Survey (later,
“Service”) by combining research scientists from seven Department
of Interior bureaus. The Center was called the Northwest Biological
Science Center, and its mission was broadened to further emphasize ecology
and population biology. By this time, the Alaska Field Station had grown
into a separate science center in its own right.
Most recently, in 1996, changes in Congress resulted in the elimination
of the National Biological Service as a separate bureau of the DOI.
The capability of the agency was downsized and, on October 1, 1996,
the personnel and programs of the NBS were established as a new division
within the US Geological Survey—the Biological Resources Division.
Meanwhile, natural resource issues in the West, particularly the decline
of salmon and expanded ESA listings for a variety of fish and other
aquatic species, became more critical than ever.
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