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.

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.