Fisheries History

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is the direct descendant of the Nation's first Federal conservation agency, the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries (usually just called the "Fish Commission"). Initiated in 1871, the agency was devoted to the protection, study, management, and restoration of fish. It was later renamed the Bureau of Fisheries, and still later it became the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Read about national fisheries history in the following publications, available as PDFs:

Baird's Legacy: The History and Accomplishments of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, 1871-1996, by Willis Hobart (NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS F/SPO-18, 1996)

The Federal Fisheries Service, 1871–1940: Its Origins, Organization, and Accomplishments, by Theodore Whaley Cart (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 66, No. 4, 2004)

Marine Fisheries History: 50th Anniversary Issue of Marine Fisheries Review (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 50, No. 4, 1988)

Special Issue: NMFS 125th Anniversary (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 1-2, 1996)

Special issue: The U.S. Fish Commission Steamer Albatross: A History (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 61, No. 4, 1999)

Other publications relating to fisheries history:

Biographies & Profiles

Biographic Memoir of Ernest Ingersoll: Naturalist, Shellfish Scientist, and Author, by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 53, No. 3, 1991)

Charles H. Gilbert, Pioneer Ichthyologist and Fishery Biologist, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 1-2, 1996)

Charles Henry Gilbert (1859-1928) Naturalist-in-charge, and Chauncey Thomas, Jr. (1850-1919), Commanding: Conflict Aboard the U.S. Fish Commission Steamer Albatross in 1902, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 1-2, 1996)

Charles Henry Gilbert (1859-1928) Naturalist-in-charge: The 1906 North Pacific Expedition of the Steamer Albatross, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 1-2, 1996)

Biographical Sketch of Spencer Fullerton Baird, by George Brown Goode (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 1-2, 1996)

William Francis Thompson (1888-1965): a Preeminent Fishery Biologist of the
Early and Mid Twentieth Century, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 63, No. 2, 2001)

William Francis Thompson (1888-1965) and His Pioneering Studies of the Pacific Halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 63, No. 2, 2001)

William Francis Thompson (1888-1965) and the Dawn of Marine Fisheries Research in California, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 63, No. 2, 2001)

John Nathan Cobb (1868–1930): Founding Director of the College of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle, by J. Richard Dunn (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 65, No. 3, 2003)

Stanford University’s John Otterbein Synder: student, collaborator, and colleague of David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert, by Martin R. Brittan and Mark R. Jennings (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 70, No. 1, 2008)

My days on the Albatross, by Seaton Schroeder (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 70, No. 1, 2008)

Drawn to the Sea: Charles Bradford Hudson (1865-1939), Artist, Author, Army Officer, with Special Notice for his Work for the United States Fish Commission and Bureau of Fisheries, by Victor G. Springer and Kristin A. Murphy (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 701 No. 4, 2009)

Research & programs

A History of Benthic Research in the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center, by Frank W Steimle et al. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 57, No. 2, 1995)

History of the Systematics Odyssey: The Marine Flora and Fauna of the Eastern United States, by Melbourne R. Carriker (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 3, 1996)

Specific fisheries

An assessment of the South Pacific albacore, Thunnus alalunga, fishery, 1953-72, by Robert A. Skillman (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1975)

A review of the yellowfin-skipjack tuna fishery of the Atlantic Ocean and American participation, 1956-75, by Gary T. Sakagawa et al. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 39, No. 12, 1977)

The Pacific Northwest commercial fishery for striped bass, 1922-74, by Norman B. Parks (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 40, No. 1, 1978)

History of the Fisheries of Raritan Bay, New York and New Jersey, by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 52, No. 4, 1990)

History of Oystering in the United States and Canada, Featuring North America's Greatest Oyster Estuaries, by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 58, No. 4, 1996)

The origin of the Florida sponge fishery, by W. N. Witzell (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 60, No. 1, 1998)

Quahogs in Eastern North America, by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr., Allan Morrison, David L. Taylor, Victor G. Burrell, Jr., William S. Arnold, and Armando T. Wakida-Kusunoki (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 64, No. 2-3, 2002)
The Truth About Soviet Whaling: A Memoir (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 70, No. 2, 2008)

History of the bay Scallop, Argopecten irradians, Fisheries and Habitats in Eastern North America, Massachusetts through Northeastern Mexico, by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 70, No. 3-4, 2008)

The Bay Scallop, Argopecten irradians, Massachusetts Through North Carolina: Its Biology and the History of Its Habitats and Fisheries, by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr. (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 70, No. 3-4, 2008)

History of Alaska Red King Crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, Bottom Trawl Surveys, 1940-61, by Mark Zimmermann, C. Braxton Dew, and Beverly A. Malley (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 71, No. 1, 2009)

History of Molluscan Fishery Regulations and the Shellfish Officer Service in Massachusetts, by Henry Lind (Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 71, No. 3, 2009)

NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 127.  The history, present condition, and future of the molluscan fisheries of North and Central America and Europe, Volume 1, Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Edited by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr., Victor G. Burrell, Jr., Aaron Rosenfield, and Willis L. Hobart. September 1997. [138 MB]
Click here for low-res version [19.6 MB]

NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 128.  The history, present condition, and future of the molluscan fisheries of North and Central America and Europe, Volume 2, Pacific coast. Edited by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr., Victor G. Burrell, Jr., Aaron Rosenfield, and Willis L. Hobart. December 1997. [114 MB]
Click here for low-res version [16.4 MB]

NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 129.  The history, present condition, and future of the molluscan fisheries of North and Central America and Europe, Volume 3, Europe. Edited by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr., Victor G. Burrell, Jr., Aaron Rosenfield, and Willis L. Hobart. April 1997. [126 MB]
Click here for low-res version [18.6 MB]