POWELL: OSCAR ELTON SETTE: FISHERY BIOLOGIST 



tific assistant, alternating between Monterey 

 during the sardine fishing season and the San 

 Pedro Laboratory to work on tuna investigations 

 in other months. His first major contribution 

 to fishery literature reported his analysis of the 

 sardine data he collected at Monterey as well 

 as various sampling systems he used. It was 

 submitted for publication in April 1924. 



Sette used an increasing amount of statistical 

 analysis in his study of the sardine fishery. This 

 came to the attention of U.S. Commissioner of 

 Fisheries, Henry O'Malley, who persuaded him 

 to move to Washington, D.C. and join the U.S. 

 Bureau of Fisheries as Chief of the Division of 

 Fishery Industries. He held this position from 

 1924 to 1928. Managing this division included 

 supervising research in fishery technology, par- 

 ticularly the canning and preservation of fishery 

 products, and the distribution of technological 

 and production information to the public. He 

 also was given the special task of improving the 

 Federal Government's system of collecting and 

 publishing statistics. During this time, his own 

 publications were confined to annual statistical 

 and economic reports of United States fisheries, 

 and articles concerning commercial fisheries for 

 Bureau publications or trade journals. 



The year 1924 was one of change and growth 

 for Elton. Living in the capital city was quite 

 different from that of the west coast, the new 

 job was entirely different from that of his pre- 

 vious experience, and he relinquished his bach- 

 elorhood. He had met and fallen in love with 

 Elizabeth G. Jackson whom he married Decem- 

 ber 20 of that year. 



The new job was stimulating, but Sette never 

 lost his interest in fishery biology, nor in the 

 challenge to manage large fluctuating fish re- 

 sources. So he began on his own to study the 

 Atlantic mackerel which had yielded widely dif- 

 ferent catches over a period of years. Once again 

 Elmer Higgins entered his life. Higgins had 

 been appointed Chief of the Division of Scien- 

 tific Inquiry, U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and was 

 stationed in Washington, D.C. He encouraged 

 Elton in his mackerel research and offered him 

 a position in his Division as full-time investi- 

 gator. Sette decided to accept in 1928. Mean- 

 while, increased appropriations from Congress 



made it possible to establish regional research 

 teams to investigate important fisheries, or types 

 of fisheries. Because of his experience and per- 

 sonal competence, Sette was made Chief of the 

 North Atlantic Fishery Investigations, a posi- 

 tion he held until 1937. 



He established headquarters at the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, 

 and recruited a handpicked staff to study the 

 life histories of marine fish important to the 

 New England coast as well as the effect of fish- 

 ing on their abundance. At the same time, Sette 

 concentrated his own attention on the Atlantic 

 mackerel. The published results of this study 

 represent a significant contribution to fisheries 

 research and is a classic in the literature. During 

 the summer months he acted as Director of the 

 Bureau's Fisheries Station at Woods Hole. He 

 also found time to continue his studies, at the 

 graduate level, and obtained his Master's Degree 

 in Biology at Harvard in 1930. Of Sette and his 

 staff, Dr. Higgins wrote: 



" (they) worked in a sort of happy symbiosis 



with the staff of the M.C.Z., the Faculty, and graduate 

 students, many of whom were employed by the Bureau 

 on temporary appointments. Thus, the haddock 

 investigations began, the cod investigations wound up, 

 the weakfish studies of the mid-Atlantic coast were 

 extended, and oceanographic examination of the Gulf 

 of Maine was brought to a virtual completion. All 

 of these efforts resulted in a number of significant 

 papers." 



One of Sette's most endearing qualities to those 

 who worked under him, especially students and 

 young men starting their careers in marine sci- 

 ence, was his ability to meet with them and dis- 

 cuss work at their level, to draw them out, and 

 inspire them to put forth their best effort. One 

 such student was Dr. Daniel Merriman, present 

 Director of Sears Foundation for Marine Re- 

 search. He worked part time for Sette irj the 

 summer of 1930 while he was taking an in- 

 vertebrate course at the Marine Biological Lab- 

 oratory. He has written: 



"I cannot imagine how I got the job unless it was 

 through the good offices of Dr. Henry Bigelow, a close 

 family friend. My record at Harvard had nothing 



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