A Science on the Scales The Rise of Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Biology, 1898-1939

About this book

In A Science on the Scales, Jennifer M. Hubbard tells the story of how a new and emerging science - marine and fisheries biology - became an important enterprise in Canada. She uses extensive archival research - focussed on scientific correspondence and internal reports - and follows the science's development in Canada, as well as Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In so doing, Hubbard describes the important, but fraught, relationship between the economic and social history of Atlantic Canada and its relations with the federal government, particularly in the context of the generally low priority given fisheries issues.

Despite a variety of challenges, contributions made by the research organization that eventually became the Fisheries Research Board of Canada proved to be vital in the development of the science. Indeed, its flagship station, the Atlantic Biological Station in New Brunswick, became for a time one of the world's leading centres for marine science, its dynamic scientists and facilities providing the impetus that helped Canadian fisheries biology to achieve internationally recognized status. An original and timely work, A Science on the Scales shines a light on a heretofore-neglected aspect of Canada's science history.

Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Scientists at Sea: Expeditions and Seaside Stations Fishing for Ideas: Approaches to Marine Biology and Fisheries Science to 1914 The Canadian Fisheries Expedition, 1914--1915 Ottawa, 1919: Bureaucrats versus the Biological Board Rescuing Canada's Sinking Atlantic Fishing Industry, 1924--1939 Huxley's Red Herring An Environmental Assessment: The International Passamaquoddy Fisheries Commission, 1931--1933 Ebb Tide at the Atlantic Biological Station Epilogue: Balancing the Scales Notes BibliographyIndex

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Biography

Jennifer M. Hubbard is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Ryerson University.